A seatbelt retractor device includes a pre-tensioner section, and a force limiter section that can change a magnitude of a load at which to start reducing tension of the retracted seatbelt. A seatbelt control ECU activates the pre-tensioner section when a deceleration G detected by a floor sensor exceeds a first threshold, and acquires a collision velocity from a radar device and sets a second threshold value to a lower value the greater the collision velocity. The seatbelt control ECU controls the starting load for tension reduction by the force limiter section to be a high load when the deceleration G has exceeded the second threshold within a determination time period after activation of the pre-tensioner section, and controls the starting load for tension reduction to be a low load when which the deceleration G has not exceeded the second threshold within the determination time period.

A method and system may identify vehicle collisions in real-time or at least near real-time based on statistical data collected from previous vehicle collisions. A user's portable computing device may obtain sensor data from sensors in the portable computing device and compare the sensor data to a statistical model indicative of a vehicle collision, where the statistical model includes sensor data characteristics which correspond to the vehicle collision. Each sensor data characteristic may have a threshold value, the portable computing device may compare a value for the sensor data characteristic to the threshold value. If the portable computing device identifies a vehicle collision based on the comparison, notifications may be sent to emergency contacts and/or emergency personnel to provide assistance to the user.

Systems and methods for crash determination in accordance with embodiments of the invention are disclosed. In one embodiment, a vehicle telematics device includes a processor and a memory storing a crash determination application, wherein the processor, on reading the crash determination application, is directed to obtain sensor data from at least one sensor installed in a vehicle, calculate peak resultant data based on the sensor data, where the peak resultant data describes the acceleration of the vehicle over a first time period, generate crash score data based on the peak resultant data and a set of crash curve data for the vehicle, where the crash score data describes the likelihood that the vehicle was involved in a crash based on the characteristics of the vehicle and the sensor data, and provide the obtained sensor data when the crash score data exceeds a crash threshold to a remote server system.

A method for operating a safety system of a motor vehicle includes correcting an output signal of a measuring sensor as a function of a current temperature value measured by a temperature sensor. The motor vehicle includes a sensor device with the measuring sensor to detect a collision and the temperature sensor. The method further includes determining an intrinsic heat of the measuring sensor generated by the operation of the measuring sensor and correcting the output signal as a function of the determined intrinsic heat.

A control device for controlling a passenger protection device for a vehicle includes an input unit configured to receive a first acceleration signal in a first axial direction and a second acceleration signal in a second axial direction which are generated by an acceleration sensor disposed in a side door of a vehicle, a determination unit configured to determine whether a collision has occurred in the side door of the vehicle using at least one of the first acceleration signal and the second acceleration signal, and a control unit configured to control a passenger protection device disposed adjacent to the side door of the vehicle based on a result of determining whether the collision has occurred.

Provided are a method and an apparatus for controlling the deployment of an airbag. The method includes steps of: determining whether a complex collision has occurred, based on collision-related physical quantities due to a vehicle collision; and adjusting a threshold value as a criterion for determining whether to deploy an airbag when the complex collision has occurred as a result of the determination.

A vehicle for protecting passengers of the vehicles includes a plurality of passenger protecting apparatuses; first sensors obtaining passenger information related to the passengers of the vehicle; second sensors obtaining vehicle motion information in a situation of a collision of the vehicle with another object; and a processor operatively connected to the passenger protecting apparatuses, the first sensors and the second sensors, and the processor estimates passenger behavior information in the situation of the collision based on the obtained passenger information and the obtained vehicle motion information; and controls operation of at least one of the plurality of passenger protecting apparatuses based on the estimated passenger behavior information; and the passenger information may include at least one of state information on a seat of the passenger and information on whether the passenger is wearing a belt.

The drive assist apparatus detects an object around an own vehicle, and detects a moving direction of the detected object when the detected object is relatively approaching the own vehicle. The drive assist apparatus predicts a movement prediction position to which the object will move, and executes drive assist upon the movement prediction position being a collision prediction position. The collision prediction position is a position where, if the object relatively moves to the movement prediction position, there is a possibility that the object will collide with the own vehicle. The drive assist includes at least one of a task of avoiding a collision between the object and the own vehicle, and a task of mitigating a damage due to the collision. The drive assist apparatus determines an execution timing of the drive assist as a function of the moving direction detected by the moving direction detection means, and the collision prediction position.

One example method of operation may include identifying a vehicle collision event via one or more sensors disposed in one or more sensor circuits affixed to a vehicle body of a vehicle via one or more multi-layered removable stickers, responsive to identifying the vehicle collision event, identifying vehicle collision event data including a geolocation of the vehicle and a timestamp of the vehicle collision event, and storing, in a wirelessly accessible memory of the one or more sensor circuits, the vehicle collision event data received during the vehicle collision event.

Systems and methods for crash determination in accordance with embodiments of the invention are disclosed. In one embodiment, a vehicle telematics device includes a processor and a memory storing a crash determination application, wherein the processor, on reading the crash determination application, is directed to obtain sensor data from at least one sensor installed in a vehicle, calculate peak resultant data based on the sensor data, where the peak resultant data describes the acceleration of the vehicle over a first time period, generate crash score data based on the peak resultant data and a set of crash curve data for the vehicle, where the crash score data describes the likelihood that the vehicle was involved in a crash based on the characteristics of the vehicle and the sensor data, and provide the obtained sensor data when the crash score data exceeds a crash threshold to a remote server system.