Patent ID: 6848710

Claim:
An airbag system comprising: airbags accommodated in a side of a vehicle body; inflators for supplying gas to the airbags, respectively; collision-detecting sensors provided apart from doors of the vehicle body for detecting a side impact of a vehicle; a sensor provided at a center portion of the vehicle for detecting the side impact transmitted to a compartment of the vehicle; and an Electronic Control Unit (ECU); the airbags being expanded at a side of a vehicle compartment by selectively igniting the inflators based on two signals of the ECU derived respectively from outputs of the collision-detecting sensors and the sensor at the center portion of the vehicle in the event of a collision of the vehicle, wherein the airbags include a front seat-protecting airbag and a rear seat-protecting airbag, wherein the collision-detecting sensors include at least a front seat-detecting sensor located near a lower portion of a center pillar of the vehicle body for detecting a side impact occurring near a front seat and a rear seat-detecting sensor located near a lower portion of a rear pillar of the vehicle body for detecting a side impact occurring near a rear seat, wherein the sensor at the center portion of the vehicle detects the side impact transmitted to the compartment of the vehicle with being mitigated by a deformation of the vehicle body, and wherein the front seat-protecting airbag is expanded when the front seat-detecting sensor and the sensor at the center portion of the vehicle detect a side impact, and the rear seat-protecting airbag is expanded when the rear seat-detecting sensor and the sensor at the center portion of the vehicle detect a side impact.