Patent ID: 8892313

Claim:
A seatbelt warning apparatus comprising: a seatbelt configured to constrain a passenger seated on a vehicle seat when fastened and release the passenger when not fastened; a load detection unit configured to detect a load acting on a seat surface of the vehicle seat; a warning member configured to encourage fastening of the seatbelt according to the load detected by the load detection unit; and a control unit configured to bring a mode to one of a not-seated recognition mode which corresponds to a not-seated state, a passenger-seated recognition mode in which it is determined that the passenger is seated and the warning member is brought into an operation-permitted state, and a baggage recognition mode in which it is determined that a baggage is placed and the warning member is brought into an operation-not-permitted state, wherein the control unit performs a first transition process configured to transfer the mode to the baggage recognition mode on the condition that the load detected by the load detection unit is larger than a first load and smaller than a second load continuously for a first preset time in the not-seated recognition mode, the control unit performs a second transition process configured to transfer the mode to the passenger-seated recognition mode on the condition that the load detected by the load detection unit is larger than the second load continuously for a second preset time in the not-seated recognition mode, the control unit is configured to transfer the mode to the not-seated recognition mode on the condition that the load detected by the load detection unit is smaller than a third load continuously for a third preset time in either the baggage recognition mode or the passenger-seated recognition mode, and the first preset time is set to be shorter than a time T, wherein the time T is a time obtained from a plurality of load versus time profiles in which the load increases from the first load to the second load based on a magnitude of vehicle acceleration.