Patent ID: 6997277

Claim:
An automotive passenger restraint and protection apparatus having a seatbelt, for restraining an occupant of the automotive vehicle by the seatbelt to protect the occupant, comprising: a motor for retracting and protracting the seatbelt; seatbelt attaching state detecting means for detecting whether the seatbelt is in a state attached to the occupant or in a state disconnected from the occupant; danger degree detecting means for detecting a significant degree of danger of collision of the automotive vehicle; and control means for controlling said motor so as to retract the seatbelt to a limit thereof and then protract the seatbelt to thereby give a predetermined amount of looseness to the seatbelt, wherein said control means controls said motor so as to give a first predetermined amount of looseness to the seatbelt when the significant degree of danger is not detected by said danger degree detecting means while the seatbelt is detected to be in said state attached to the occupant, and controls said motor so as to give a second predetermined amount of looseness to the seatbelt which is smaller than said first predetermined amount of looseness when the significant degree of danger is detected by said danger degree detecting means while the seatbelt is detected to be in said state attached to the occupant, wherein said danger degree detecting means comprises at least one of vehicle speed detecting means for detecting traveling speed of the automotive vehicle, braking detecting means for detecting stepping-on of a brake pedal of the automotive vehicle, steering angle change rate detecting means for detecting a rate of change in a steering angle of the automotive vehicle, ambient illuminance detecting means for detecting ambient illuminance of the automotive vehicle, and raindrop detecting means for detecting raindrops on the automotive vehicle, and wherein said danger degree detecting means detects the significant degree of danger if said vehicle speed detecting means detects that the traveling speed of the automotive vehicle is higher than a predetermined value and at the same time at least one of conditions is satisfied that the stepping-on of the brake pedal is detected by said braking detecting means, the steering angle change rate detecting means detects that the rate of change of the steering angle exceeds a predetermined value, the ambient illuminance detecting means detects that the ambient illuminance of the automotive vehicle is below a predetermined value, and the raindrop detecting means detects the raindrops on the automotive vehicle.