A trim element for a vehicle includes a cover, a piezoelectric member and a wireless telecommunication device. The cover has a face surface intended to be in contact with a user and a back surface on the opposite side, and the cover has a layer of foam and a covering material. The piezoelectric member is intended to be actuated by the user. The wireless telecommunication device is controlled by the piezoelectric member and adapted for communicating with an electrically controlled functional device for controlling the electrically controlled functional device. The telecommunication device is attached to the back surface of the cover.

A child safety system for alerting caregivers that the child has been unintentionally or recklessly abandoned. The system includes a child presence detecting device having a Bluetooth Low Energy beacon that transmits a signal only when a child is detected in a location. A local mobile device receives and interprets the signal so as to generate a local alert when the signal strength falls below a threshold. The local alert tells a caregiver carrying the local mobile device that the child has been unintentionally or recklessly abandoned. The local mobile device also sends a remote alert via internet to a central server that communicates the remote alert to at least one remote mobile device. The local mobile device also sends the remote alert via an internet connection to a second server that communicate the remote alert to at least one additional remote mobile device via a respective individual internet connection.

A system for alerting caregivers that a child has been unintentionally or recklessly abandoned in a location, such as a car seat. The system transmits a signal only when the child is detected in the location. A local mobile device generates a local alert when the signal strength falls below a threshold. The local alert tells a caregiver carrying the local mobile device that the child has been abandoned. The local mobile device also sends a remote alert to a central server that sends the remote alert to at least one remote mobile device. The central server can also send a remote alert to at least one remote mobile device indicating that the caregiver has abandoned both the child and the local mobile device if the child is detected, the local mobile device has not moved for a while, and the caregiver has not responded to local mobile device prompts.

A vehicle occupant detection system including at least one weight sensing pad, at least one infrared sensor, and at least one motion sensor disposed within an automobile. Each of the at least one weight sensing pad, the at least one infrared sensor, and the at least one motion sensor is in operational communication with each of a battery and a computer system of the automobile. The computer system is configured to activate at least one of a horn, an alarm, an engine, at least one power window, a wireless communication with a remotely disposed fob, a wireless text communication with a remotely disposed personal electronic device, and a cellular communication with an emergency responder when at least one of the at least one infrared sensor, the at least one weight sensing pad, and the at least one motion sensor detects a passenger disposed within the vehicle.

A method for a vehicle includes using sensors in a vehicle seat to detect biometrics of a person sitting in the seat and a vehicle controller determining from the biometrics of the person whether the person requires medical attention. In response to the person requiring medical attention, a request for assistance for the person is broadcasted via a V2X transceiver of the vehicle to medical practitioners of a medical practitioner network who are near a location of vehicle during the broadcasting. The medical practitioner network includes the person as a subscriber and medical practitioners as providers. Alternately, in response to the person requiring medical attention, the vehicle controller uses an autonomous vehicle control system of the vehicle to drive the vehicle to a medical facility.

Systems, Methods and Apparatuses are provided for a seat adjustment system for a vehicle which includes: a plurality of sensors configured to produce sensor data associated with an occupancy by an internal or external user of a particular seat of the vehicle and a processor, configured to receive the sensor data to: determine a state of one or more settings of the seat adjustment system for the particular seat of the vehicle based on stored data or the received sensor data; determine in a near future whether a particular seat will be occupied by the external user based on the received sensor data; determine currently whether a particular seat is occupied by the internal user based on the received sensor data; and adjust settings of the particular seat in accordance with determinations of the state of settings and occupancy of the particular seat.

Systems, devices, and techniques are provided for occupancy assessment of a vehicle. For one or more occupants of the vehicle, the occupancy assessment establishes position and/or identity for some or all of the occupant(s).

Vehicular control method to avoid collisions in which a smartphone is coupled to the vehicle while in a vehicular compartment. Data is generated from vehicle-resident sensors about operation of the vehicle and transferred from the vehicle to the smartphone while the smartphone is coupled to the vehicle. A communications network with another vehicle is established using the smartphone and the data transferred from the vehicle to the smartphone and data from sensors on the smartphone is transmitted via the smartphone and established communications network to other vehicle, the data including data about location and movement of the vehicle. Then, while the smartphone is coupled to the vehicle, a vehicular operational function is controlled based in part on data transmitted using the smartphone and established communications network to cause movement of the vehicle to change in order to avoid a collision with the other vehicle.

A vehicle seating system is described that can detect and optionally quantify a drowsiness state and/or and emotional state of a seat occupant in the vehicle. A seat is mounted in a vehicle and houses a wireless electromagnetic sensing system at least partially integrated into the seat. These sensed signals can be used to determine the occupant's state. When the state exceeds a threshold, then wireless stimulation emitters output a stimulation signal to the occupant to alter the emotion state or drowsiness state to move the occupant to below the threshold and to a calm state or an alert state. The system can also use additional physiological sensor to measure at least one of a heart rate, a respiration rate, or both of the occupant to be used with the electromagnetic sensing at the seat.

Methods and systems for detection of removable vehicle seats may be used to indicate presence or absence of a child in the vehicle. In some examples, an alarm system includes a radio frequency (RF) transceiver and a removable seat magnetic coupling. Various actions are triggered when the parent (e.g., guardian) goes beyond a predefined range while the removable seat is within the vehicle, such as sounding an alarm on a mobile electronic device.