Patent ID: 8573640

Claim:
A side-impact protection system for protecting a vehicle occupant, the system comprising: a pre-crash sensing system for detecting an approaching vehicle and identifying a collision threat, wherein the pre-crash sensing system is a radar-based system, a vision-based system, a LIDAR based system, or a combination thereof; an unlatching mechanism coupled to a Restraint Control Module, for receiving the signals therefrom, the unlatching mechanism being configured to unlatch the occupant's door; a push and lock mechanism coupled to the Restraint Control Module, for receiving signals therefrom, the push and lock mechanism being configured to push the occupant's door outwards and away from the occupant, and for locking the door in a specific position, based on the received signals; and an airbag deploying module positioned to deploy an airbag between the occupant and the door, at a specific time, based on a set of conditions.