Methods and systems detect motion of a motor vehicle and detect whether the driver, and/or other occupants, are wearing their safety belts. A third party can be notified, in real-time, that the vehicle is being driven without the safety belts engaged. The user can then deliver an audio message to the user, either pre-recorded or live, to remind the user to fasten their safety belts. The third party also has an option of delivering a consequence to the user as a result of the detection of the safety belt not being engaged. Such consequence can include automatically limiting access to certain applications of the driver's smart phone for a certain period of time. The system can include a seat belt application detector, a vehicle motion detector, and wireless communication means to send a signal of safety belt application to the third party.

A method for recognizing a seat occupancy of seats in a motor vehicle including a) preparing a checking sequence of the seats at least using a probability of occupancy of the seats, and b) sequentially checking the occupancy of the seats using the checking sequence prepared in step a).

A seatbelt buckle that includes a housing, an attracting member, an attractable element, and a plate adapted to retain a seatbelt clip within the housing. The member, the element, and the plate may be carried by the housing. The buckle is adapted so that when the member is electronically actuated, the element causes the plate to move toward the member and thereby release the clip.

A computer that may be programmed to: in response to receiving an indication that a vehicle is approaching a geofence boundary, retract slack in a webbing associated with a seat in the vehicle by actuating a seatbelt retractor; then receive measurement data from one or more sensors associated with the seat; using the data, determine whether an occupant occupies the seat; and when no occupant occupies the seat, then transmit an instruction to stop the vehicle.

A pressure sensing system, seat cushion incorporating the pressure sensing system, and method of sensing a weight group associated with an occupant of an automotive seat are described. The pressure sensing system includes a layer of an electrically conductive foam and a flexible printed circuit that includes a flexible substrate and N horizontal sensing wires and M vertical sensing wires securely placed on a top surface of the flexible substrate. The horizontal sensing wires intersect with the vertical sensing wires and form (NM) intersections. The layer of an electrically conductive foam is placed on top of the N horizontal sensing wires and the M vertical sensing wires. When a pressure is applied to the layer of the electrically conductive foam, each intersection generates in real time an electric flux density value to reflect a degree of a compression caused by the pressure to a corresponding point of the electrically conductive foam.

A pressure sensing system, seat cushion incorporating the pressure sensing system, and method of sensing a weight group associated with an occupant of an automotive seat are described. The pressure sensing system includes a layer of an electrically conductive foam and a flexible printed circuit that includes a flexible substrate and N horizontal sensing wires and M vertical sensing wires securely placed on a top surface of the flexible substrate. The horizontal sensing wires intersect with the vertical sensing wires and form (NM) intersections. The layer of an electrically conductive foam is placed on top of the N horizontal sensing wires and the M vertical sensing wires. When a pressure is applied to the layer of the electrically conductive foam, each intersection generates in real time an electric flux density value to reflect a degree of a compression caused by the pressure to a corresponding point of the electrically conductive foam.

Aspects hereof relate to a lever-actuated operator protection apparatus. In some aspects, the lever-actuated operator protection apparatus can be raised and lowered by an operator from a seated position, for example, on a terrain working vehicle.

A seatbelt system may include a seatbelt configured to constrain a waist and a torso of an occupant. The seatbelt may also include a coupling configured to selectively couple a portion of a vehicle and the seatbelt to one another. The system may also include a reel configured to receive at least a portion of the seatbelt, and a tension sensor associated with the coupling and/or the seatbelt and configured to generate a signal indicative of tension in the seatbelt. The system may also include a deployment sensor associated with the seatbelt and configured to generate a signal indicative of a length of the seatbelt deployed from the reel. The system may also include an occupant detector configured to determine, based at least in part on the signals indicative of tension and the length, whether an occupant is properly wearing the seatbelt, such that the seatbelt constrains the occupant.

A system for detecting improper usage of a seatbelt of a vehicle includes a vehicle seat having a seat cushion and a seat back. A shoulder belt and a lap belt are intended to restrain an occupant sitting on the vehicle seat. The system includes a sensor module associated with the shoulder belt and the lap belt. The sensor module generates signals indicative of at least one parameter associated with the vehicle seat, the shoulder belt, and the lap belt when the occupant is sitting on the vehicle seat. The system also includes a controller that receives the signals indicative of the at least one parameter associated with the seat back, the shoulder belt, and the lap belt. The controller analyzes the received one or more signals, and determines whether the seatbelt is being used improperly by the occupant, based on the analysis.

A seatbelt device for a motor vehicle, including: a diagonal belt portion and a lap belt portion, each of which is connected to a seatbelt retractor that can be fixedly secured to the vehicle, a seatbelt buckle that can be fixedly secured to the vehicle, and a seatbelt tongue that can be locked to the seatbelt buckle. One end of the lap belt portion is secured to the seatbelt tongue, and one end of the diagonal belt portion is secured to a fitting, the fitting being rotatably connected to the seatbelt tongue. At least one sensor is provided and designed to detect the rotational angular position of the fitting with respect to the seatbelt tongue and/or the seatbelt buckle. The invention further relates to a corresponding method.