Patent ID: 7334657

Claim:
In a vehicle having a longitudinal axis between a front and rear of the vehicle such that a lateral direction is defined perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, the vehicle including a right side and a left side spaced apart in the lateral direction, a side impact airbag system comprising a side airbag arranged to deploy along the left or right side of the vehicle; and an electronic crash sensor comprising; a housing; a mass arranged within said housing in a position and direction so as to be movable in the lateral direction relative to said housing in response to lateral accelerations of said housing; a control mechanism for controlling deployment of said side airbag, said control mechanism being responsive to the motion of said mass only in the lateral direction, a microprocessor arranged to generate a signal based on the motion of said mass in the lateral direction which is used to determine whether said side airbag is deployed upon an impact into a side of said vehicle, and an algorithm for determining whether movement over time of said mass results in a calculated value which is in excess of a threshold value; said housing being mounted in such a position and a direction as to sense an impact into a side of said vehicle resulting in lateral acceleration of said housing.