Patent ID: 7272480

Claim:
An apparatus for detecting an impact of a moving object, in particular of a vehicle, comprising: a first sensor device for acquiring an acceleration in an acquisition direction that is coincident with a direction of motion of the moving object, and for outputting a first acceleration signal dependent on the acceleration; an evaluation device for evaluating the first acceleration signal in such a way that a classification of the impact is made available by a classification signal; an output device for outputting the classification signal to an external control device; and at least one second sensor device for acquiring an acceleration in an acquisition direction that is different from the direction of motion of the moving object, and for outputting at least one second acceleration signal dependent on the acceleration, wherein: the at least one second acceleration signal depends on the acceleration being employed for evaluation, in the evaluation device, for evaluating the first acceleration signal, in such a way that a classification of the impact by way of the classification signal as a function of accelerations in at least two directions of motion is made available.