Patent ID: 8406960

Claim:
A vehicle safety system for a vehicle comprising: at least one occupant safety device ( 6 ) for protecting an occupant of the vehicle ( 1 ) in the event of a side impact; and a control unit ( 7 ) operable to receive information from one or more vehicle sensors ( 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ) and to provide a trigger signal to activate the occupant safety device ( 6 ), wherein: under normal driving conditions, a default deployment algorithm is used by the control unit ( 7 ) to determine whether the trigger signal should be generated; and if it is determined by the control unit ( 7 ) that a loss of control of the vehicle ( 1 ) is occurring, or is expected to occur, and the longitudinal speed of the vehicle ( 1 ) exceeds a first threshold, the control unit ( 7 ) employs a first further deployment algorithm to determine whether the trigger signal should be generated, the first further deployment algorithm being adapted to cause the trigger signal to be generated a shorter time after the initiation of a side impact than is the case for the default deployment algorithm.