A capacitive detection system for detecting occupancy of a vehicle seat includes a signal generating unit and a signal evaluation unit. The vehicle seat has a seat heater member configured for receiving time-varying output signals of the signal generating unit. The signal evaluation unit is configured to generate an output signal that is indicative of the seat heater member to be defective, if the sensed capacitance of the seat heater member is less than a second predetermined threshold value for the sensed capacitance.

A system for controlling the position of a vehicle seat is disclosed. The system includes in network communication, an input device, a detection system, at least one controller, and at least one controllable device. The detection system measures a current value of at least one of the recline, fore-aft, or swivel position of the seat. The input device communicates to the controllers a desired value for at least one of these seat positions. The controller compares the measured value to a limiting value and the desired value and calculates a movement factor value. The movement factor value determines the communication between the controller and the controllable device. If the movement factor value falls into a range where the seat can be moved to the desired value, the controller signals the at least one controllable device to control the adjustment of at least one of the recline position, the fore-aft position, or the swivel position to the desired value. However, if the movement factor value falls outside a range where the seat can be moved to the desired value, the controller signals the at least one controllable device to limit the adjustment of the at least one of the recline position, the fore-aft position, or the swivel of the position.

An occupant or object sensing system in a vehicle includes electrical circuits for resistive and/or capacitive sensing and corresponding circuits shielding the sensing system from interference. A sensing circuit and a shielding circuit may be printed by screen printing with conductive ink on opposite sides of a non-conductive substrate. The substrate is a plastic film or other fabric that has an elastic memory structure that is resilient to stretching. The conductive inks used to print circuits onto the substrate have a similar resilience to stretching such that the substrate and the circuits thereon can be subject to deforming forces without breaking the printed circuits. The substrate may be covered with a carbon polymer layer to provide alternative conductive paths that enable fast recovery for conduction in the presence of any break in the printed conductive traces on the substrate.

A system and method for child car seat safety detection and notification are disclosed. A particular embodiment is configured to: provide at least one sensor to measure a condition present in an environment in which a child is restrained in a child car seat in a vehicle; determine, based on sensor data from the sensor, if the condition requires a notification to be sent to a user; generate a notification message including at least a portion of the sensor data and information indicative of a location of the child car seat; send the notification message to a mobile device application; and send the notification message to a vehicle subsystem application.

Systems and methods are provided for predicting a desired position of or adjustment to one or more accommodation devices of a vehicle, e.g., a seat, a steering wheel, a rearview mirror, etc. A user's position or adjustment preferences may be learned over time by measuring or obtaining data regarding the position or adjustment of accommodation devices. These learned position or adjustment preferences may be stored along with a corresponding day, time of day, and/or vehicle location during or at which the position or adjustment preferences were measured or obtained. During a subsequent occurrence of the day, time of day, and/or if the vehicle is at or traverses a location during which a previous position or adjustment was made, the same or similar position or adjustment can be effectuated. Whether or not the position or adjustment is effectuated can depend on how accurate the predicted position or adjustment may be.

In addition to the loading mode of a capacitive sensing device of a seat occupancy detection and classification system, a second measurement mode is introduced, which allows a discrimination of objects (CRS or human) with and without grounding condition. Depending on the value of the new measurement, the data is allocated to different groups which are subject to different thresholds in the loading mode. This means that if the new measurement indicates a grounding condition of the object, a higher threshold in the loading mode will be applied. In this way CRS with grounding condition will be classified by means of the higher threshold, resulting in a robustness increase. Typical human sitting positions do not show a grounding condition and will be classified by the lower threshold.

A method for controlling at least one safety function for a motor vehicle includes: a step of determining seat occupancy information, which indicates whether a seat of the vehicle is occupied by a child or not, based on sensor signals originating from a seat belt buckle sensor of the seat and from a weight sensor in the seat; and a step of applying a control signal, which includes child safety settings, depending on the seat occupancy information, to an interface for at least one vehicle safety device.

A method is provided for controlling a vehicle seat, wherein settings of parts of the vehicle seat are dynamically adjusted depending on person-related parameters of the person seated on the seat, to make the seated position of the person as favorable as possible under biomechanical aspects.

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.

A vehicle seat occupancy detection system includes at least one capacitive sensor member having at least one sensing electrode, an impedance measurement circuit for determining a complex impedance or a complex admittance of the at least one sensing electrode, an evaluation unit for generating an output signal based on a determined complex admittance of the at least one sensing electrode and comparison of the determined complex admittance to at least one predetermined value, and at least one electrically conductive ground connecting member that is intentionally electrically connected to the reference electrode and that is arranged in close proximity to the at least one sensing electrode. The at least one ground connecting member and the at least one sensing electrode are galvanically separated such that, when the seat gets wet, the sensing electrode is directly electrically connected to the reference electrode by the at least one ground connecting member.