A seat arrangement for a vehicle includes a first seat including an airbag module having an inflatable airbag, and a second seat positionable adjacent to the first seat. The second seat includes a pivotable seatback that is pivotable between an upright use position and a forward pivoted position, and a movement mechanism associated with the seatback for moving the seatback from the use position to the pivoted position. The arrangement further includes a control system configured to actuate the movement mechanism to move the seatback of the second seat from the use position to the pivoted position when the second seat is unoccupied and upon detection of a potential vehicle impact, so that the airbag of the airbag module of the first seat may deploy between an occupant of the first seat and the seatback of the second seat.

A method for helping to protect an occupant of a vehicle having a side structure and a cabin with a seat for the occupant includes providing an airbag in a stored condition offset from a centerline of the seat. The airbag has a first portion and a second portion fluidly connected with one another. The first portion is inflated and deployed to a position lateral of the occupant. The second portion is inflated and deployed from the first portion to a position in front of the occupant.

A roof airbag for a vehicle. The roof airbag includes: a main cushion located at a roof panel of the vehicle and configured to be unfolded from a first side portion to a second side portion of the roof panel when being operated; a sub cushion coupled to a side surface of the extended main cushion and unfolded outside the main cushion; and an inflator located at the roof panel of the vehicle and connected to the main cushion or the sub cushion, and configured to inject gas into the main cushion and the sub cushion to unfold the main cushion and the sub cushion.

An occupant monitoring device for a vehicle is configured to monitor an occupant sitting on a seat provided in the vehicle and includes a light projector, an imaging device, and a processor. The light projector is configured to project light toward the occupant sitting on the seat. The imaging device is configured to capture an image of the occupant sitting on the seat. The processor is configured to control the light projector and the imaging device to capture the image of the occupant sitting on the seat. In a case where a collision of the vehicle is neither predicted nor detected, the processor causes the imaging device to capture an image of behavior of the occupant corresponding to either one of travel control and behavior of the vehicle so as to change occupant protection control.

A method of controlling an airbag inflator, may include determining, when an occupant is accommodated on a seat, whether the weight of the occupant is in which of first to fourth weight ranges sequentially allocated by a controller, performing a first logic for operating an inflator at the lowest one of three intensities by the controller when it is determined that the weight of the occupant is in the lightest first weight range, and performing a second logic for operating the inflator at the intermediate intensity or a third logic for operating the inflator at the highest intensity by the controller, according to conditions such as a position of a seat, a state of operation of a recliner, a collision condition, a collision pulse, and wearing of a belt, when it is determined that the weight of the occupant is in the third or fourth weight range.

An apparatus comprising a transceiver, a processor and a memory. The transceiver may be configured to send/receive data messages to/from a plurality of vehicles. The processor may be configured to execute instructions. The memory may be configured to store instructions that, when executed, perform the steps of (A) generating signal distance calculations between the apparatus and at least three of the vehicles using the data messages, (B) calculating a plurality of potential positions of the vehicles using the signal distance calculations, (C) performing a scaling operation on the plurality potential positions of the vehicles to determine relative positions of the vehicles on a coordinate system, (D) implementing a procrusting procedure on the coordinate system to generate a corrected coordinate system and (F) determining changes of the relative positions using the corrected coordinate system.

An airbag system for repositioning a seat occupant in a moving vehicle during a crash event includes: a first inflatable airbag disposed proximate to a front portion of a seat pan; a second inflatable airbag disposed proximate to a rear portion of the seat pan; and inflation control device controlling deployment of the first and second inflatable airbags. The inflation control device includes a programmable controller controlling inflation parameters of the first and second inflatable airbags to achieve a desired lift, subject to monument constraints.

A method and apparatus of predicting a crash are provided. The method includes detecting coordinates of a target obstacle based on first coordinate information of a radar sensor and second coordinate information of an ultrasonic sensor, translating the second coordinate information to the coordinate system of the first coordinate information and generating translated coordinate information, estimating a position, speed, and acceleration of a vehicle if the vehicle is a predetermined distance from the target obstacle based on the translated coordinate information, determining a potential crash type between the vehicle and the target obstacle based on the estimated position, speed and acceleration of the vehicle, determining a three-dimensional movement trajectory based on the estimated position, speed and acceleration of the vehicle and the determined crash type, and predicting a crash point of the vehicle, a crash point of the target object and a crash time based on the three-dimensional movement trajectory.

An apparatus comprising a transceiver module and a processor. The transceiver may be configured to send/receive data messages to/from a plurality of vehicles. The processor may be configured to (i) determine a plurality of selected vehicles from the plurality of vehicles based on a selection criteria and (ii) calculate relative coordinates of the plurality of vehicles based on the data messages from the selected vehicles. The selection criteria may comprise determining (i) a target vehicle and (ii) at least two complementary vehicles. A predicted trajectory of the target vehicle may cross paths with a predicted trajectory of the apparatus. The complementary vehicles may be selected based on (i) an arrangement of the plurality of vehicles and (ii) speeds of the plurality of vehicles.

A computer-implemented method for checking the correct deployment of an airbag device comprises, in a vehicle or test vehicle model, optionally arranging a dummy or model of a vehicle occupant in the vicinity of the airbag device, triggering the deployment of the air chamber of the airbag device, taking at least one image of a scene including the air chamber at a plurality of discrete times following the triggering of its deployment and verifying the volume of inflation and/or deployment of the air chamber at the plurality of discrete times following the triggering of its deployment on the basis of the at least one image.