Patent ID: 7905515

Claim:
An air bag deployment system for a vehicle comprising: at least one pre-impact sensor operative to detect an imminent impact; at least one post-impact sensor operative to detect an impact; and at least one air bag having a non-deployed volume, a pre-impact deployed volume, and a post-impact deployed volume, the pre-impact deployed volume being larger than the post-impact deployed volume; and a processing unit to determine, based on signals received from the at least one pre-impact sensor, a probability of the imminent impact by taking into account a pre-programmed scenario, the at least one air bag arranged in working cooperation with the processing unit such the deployment to the pre-impact deployed volume occurs when the probability of imminent impact is determined to be sufficiently high, and the at least one air bag arranged in working cooperation with the at least one post-impact sensor for deployment to the post-impact deployed volume in reaction to the impact being detected prior to the determination that the probability of imminent impact is sufficiently high.