Detection device for a steering wheel of a vehicle, said device being configured to detect contact or proximity of a person with or to the steering wheel, comprising sensors, of which there are only three, of which: a first sensor (21) is intended to be arranged on a left-hand half of a first face of the steering wheel, a second sensor (22) is intended to be arranged on a right-hand half of said first face of the steering wheel, and a third sensor (23) is intended to be arranged on a second face opposed to said first face of the steering wheel, and said first face is a rear face of the steering wheel.

A multi-electrode capacitive sensor is introduced to measure a spatial distribution of impedances to ground. The sensor can be used to identify the location of the highest impedance on the seating surface and can be a two-electrode sensor with a first electrode covering a central zone of a seat cushion and a second electrode with two galvanically connected electrode members, wherein each electrode member covers one side region of the seat cushion such that the first antenna electrode is arranged between the two electrode members of the second antenna electrode, or a two-electrode sensor with a left and right design. By measuring the difference of the impedance to ground between the two zones the system can get a simplified picture of the impedance distribution on the seating surface. This information can be used to distinguish between grounded structures such as (ISOFIX) child restraint systems and human occupants.

A capacitive detection device includes a capacitive sensor having a sense electrode and an auxiliary electrode that are arrangeable in the vicinity of an electric heater member for mutual capacitive coupling. The capacitive detection device has a signal voltage source providing an alternating measurement voltage, a complex impedance measurement circuit for measuring complex sense currents and for determining a complex impedance based on the measured complex sense current, and for electrically connecting the auxiliary electrode either with the reference voltage or with the guard signal. The method includes providing the measurement signal to the sense electrode and electrically connect the auxiliary electrode selectively either to the reference voltage or to the guard voltage; determining capacitance values in the two different connection states of the auxiliary electrode; and calculating a compensated capacitance value as a weighted sum of the two determined capacitance values, wherein the weighting factors are predefined constant values.

A mounted object detection device includes: a load sensor in which a plurality of sensor parts each configured to detect a load are disposed in a matrix shape; and a controller configured to detect a situation of a mounted object on the load sensor on the basis of an output from the load sensor. The controller: detects a load distribution on a detection region of the load sensor on the basis of an output from the load sensor; discerns which of a person or animal and a thing the mounted object is, on the basis of the load distribution; and when having discerned that the mounted object is a thing, discerns whether or not a person or an animal is mounted on the thing, on the basis of temporal change in the load distribution.

A method of operating a capacitive sensing device for diagnosing a galvanic connection of at least one guard electrode. The capacitive sensing device includes at least one sense-guard capacitive sensor and a capacitive measurement circuit. The sense-guard capacitive sensor includes a first electrically conductive sense electrode and a first electrically conductive guard electrode and at least a second electrically conductive sense electrode, which is galvanically separated from the first sense electrode, and at least a second electrically conductive guard electrode. Each of the guard electrodes is proximally arranged to at least one of the sense electrodes and is galvanically separated from each of the sense electrodes. The method uses a calculated difference of imaginary parts of complex sense currents resulting from coupling mode measurements between at least two of the sense electrodes for assessing a status of the galvanic connection of the guard electrodes.

A system including an assembly arranged in at least one of a seat and a steering wheel of a vehicle and a measurement circuit. The assembly includes a sensor and a heater arranged adjacent to the sensor. The measurement circuit is configured to output an excitation signal to the measurement circuit and the assembly and measure a resonant frequency of the measurement circuit and the assembly in response to the excitation signal. The measurement circuit is configured to determine a capacitance value based on the resonant frequency and determine whether a body part is in proximity to the sensor based on the capacitance value.

The invention relates to a system for seat occupancy detection, comprising a vehicle seat for a driver with an upper part and at least one suspension-damper system, an acceleration sensor being arranged on the upper part which is designed to determine a characteristic of an acceleration of the upper part as a function of time, an evaluation unit being provided which is designed to create an evaluation of the characteristic of the acceleration and optionally to send a signal to a higher-level control unit, the evaluation unit also being designed to assign the evaluation to a value of a mass of an object with which the vehicle seat is currently occupied.

An occupancy detection system consists of a master controller for a series of joined receivers consisting of reader modules and transponder modules in close proximity to one another. The reader modules are able to both send power to the transponder modules wirelessly and receive signals from the transponder modules, where the transponder modules are sending signals based on information received from buckle sensors, occupancy sensors, or both. The transponder modules, set in each seat of the vehicle, will get the latch/unlatch signals from the buckles, and send this information back through the reader modules to the main controller. The main controller will interface with the vehicle to provide user interface notifications.

One general aspect includes a system of restraint deployment regulation, the system includes: a memory configured to include a plurality of executable instructions and a processor configured to execute the executable instructions, where the executable instructions enable the processor to: (a) determine, based on a seat occupation sensor output, whether a non-adult occupant is occupying a vehicle seat; (b) determine, based on an in-cabin sensor output, whether a child restraint seat is mounted on the vehicle seat; and (c) based on steps (a) and (b), enable or suppress a deployment of an airbag module that corresponds with the vehicle seat.

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.