Patent ID: 7734393

Claim:
A vehicle protection system comprising: at least one pedestrian protection device for being actuated to protect a pedestrian struck by a vehicle; at least one occupant protection device for being actuated to protect an occupant during a vehicle collision; an elongate bumper assembly for being mounted to extend laterally across a vehicle; an outer bumper cover of the bumper assembly; a bumper frame behind the bumper cover; an elongate high rigidity impact receiving member extending laterally behind the bumper cover and being spaced from the from the bumper frame to allow the elongate high rigidity impact receiving member to move substantially uniformly across the lateral width thereof and relative to the bumper frame upon impact with an object; a laterally extending gap between the bumper cover and the high rigidity impact receiving member; a sensor that detects one or more parameters of the high rigidity impact receiving member upon impact with an object with the sensor being mounted behind the impact receiving member; a low rigidity impact absorbing member mounted to and behind the bumper cover and being of a lower rigidity than the impact receiving member to absorb and disperse the impact forces to act substantially uniformly on the laterally extending, high rigidity impact receiving member for accurate sensing of parameters by the sensor; a second low rigidity impact absorbing member mounted between the impact receiving member and the vehicle to allow movement from the impact receiving member toward the vehicle; and a controller for receiving input from the sensor and determining whether the object struck by the vehicle is a pedestrian based on the sensor input, the controller actuating both the pedestrian and occupant protection devices if the object is determined to be a pedestrian and only the occupant protection device if the object is determined to be other than a pedestrian.