Patent ID: 7184889

Claim:
A collision-prediction unit for a vehicle comprising: a road condition detector for detecting a condition of a road surface on which the vehicle travels; a maximum deceleration estimator for estimating a maximum vehicle deceleration before a collision on the condition detected by the road condition detector; a forward vehicle detector for detecting a moving condition of a forward vehicle located ahead of the vehicle; a forward vehicle deceleration calculator for calculating a forward vehicle deceleration based on the moving condition of the forward vehicle detected by the forward vehicle detector; a forward vehicle collision determining means for determining a collision of the forward vehicle when the forward vehicle deceleration calculated by the forward vehicle deceleration calculator based on the moving condition detected by the forward vehicle detector is greater than the maximum vehicle deceleration estimated by the maximum deceleration estimator; and a collision examiner for determining whether a collision of the vehicle with the forward vehicle is imminent based on the collision of the forward vehicle determined by the forward vehicle collision determining means.