Patent ID: 7798276

Claim:
A vehicular safety countermeasure deployment method, comprising the steps of: ascertaining whether an external body proximate a vehicle is animate; determining whether a force exerted on the vehicle by the external body has at least one of, (i) a magnitude exceeding a threshold magnitude, and (ii) a time rate of change exceeding a threshold time rate of change, and deploying a safety countermeasure dependent upon said ascertaining and determining steps, wherein said ascertaining step further includes, providing a first plate and a second plate, both said first plate and said second plate being connected to an outer surface of the vehicle such that a capacitance between said first plate and said second plate is dependent upon whether the body proximate the vehicle is animate, and monitoring the capacitance between said first plate and said second plate, wherein said monitoring step includes, applying an AC voltage signal to said first plate, and detecting a phase of the AC voltage signal.