A method detects a risk of collision between a motor vehicle and a secondary object located in traffic lanes adjacent to the main traffic lane of the vehicle, in the event of a lane change by the vehicle, which involves detecting objects in a predetermined danger zone, and estimating a time-to-collision between the vehicle and a detected object. Detecting objects in a danger zone involves: calculating the actual distance between the vehicle and each object detected by the radar, the actual distance corresponding to the length of an arc between two points; determining a danger zone as a function of lines of the main traffic lane and a width of the main traffic line; and checking, for each object detected by the radar, whether its coordinates are inside the predetermined danger zone.

A vehicle safety system includes an actuatable restraint for helping to protect a vehicle occupant and a controller for controlling actuation of the actuatable restraint in response to a vehicle rollover event. The controller is configured to execute a discrimination algorithm comprising at least one classification metric that utilizes at least one of vehicle pitch rate (P_RATE) and vehicle roll acceleration (D_RATE) to discriminate at least one of a ramp rollover event and a soil rollover event from an embankment rollover event. The discrimination algorithm determines a classification of the vehicle rollover event as one of a ramp rollover event, a soil rollover event, and an embankment rollover event. The controller is also configured to select a deployment threshold for deploying the actuatable restraint. The deployment threshold corresponds to the classification of the vehicle rollover event.

Techniques for controlling a protection apparatus are provided. An example method includes detecting an offset collision or diagonal collision, and activating a suitable protection apparatus for protecting the side or head of a passenger at a timing in accordance with the degree of collision. An example controller may include a level calculation part for calculating a level of a front face collision, a ΔV.sub.offset calculation part for making an offset adjustment of a speed (ΔV), and a determination part for determining an offset collision or diagonal collision based on the level of the front face collision and the ΔV.sub.offset.

Disclosed is a system for controlling a vehicle safety device, the system including: a vehicle safety device configured to protect an occupant; a first occupant detection unit configured to detect a position of the occupant's movable body part; a second occupant detection unit configured to detect a position of the occupant's body part fixed to the safety device; a calculation unit configured to calculate information on the occupant's behavior in the event of a collision accident of a vehicle based on the position of the occupant's movable body part detected by the first occupant detection unit and the position of the occupant's body part fixed to the safety device detected by the second occupant detection unit; and a control unit configured to control an operation of the vehicle safety device for protecting the occupant based on the information on the occupant's behavior calculated by the calculation unit.

An apparatus and a method of controlling an airbag of a vehicle are capable of securing robustness of an airbag deployment logic and more effectively protecting passengers. The apparatus and method achieve this by determining whether to deploy an airbag based on a post-human injury probability calculated through a human injury probability model and Bayesian network learning (feedback learning). The apparatus includes: a human injury probability calculator configured to calculate a human injury conditional probability and a human injury prediction probability based on vehicle motion information measured by a sensing device; a learner configured to calculate a post-human injury probability by performing a probability-based real-time feedback machine learning based on the human injury conditional probability and the human injury prediction probability; and an airbag deployment determiner configured to determine whether to deploy an airbag based on the post-human injury probability.

A protection system for a motor vehicle having a sensor for determining an angle of inclination of the motor vehicle about its longitudinal axis. An airbag attached on an outside of the motor vehicle. A processing device designed to detect a risk that the motor vehicle may tip over, on the basis of the inclination angle determined, and in that case activates the airbag. The airbag can be pivoted in the vertical direction from an area close to the ground.

A vehicle and a method of controlling the vehicle may include a seat belt apparatus to reduce the tension of the seat belt in the normal situation in which the collision does not occur by appropriately adjusting the tension of the seat belt based on the driving state of the vehicle, providing convenience to a passenger. In the collision situation, the safety of the passenger may be ensured by sufficiently increasing the tension of the seat belt. The vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes: a seat belt provided to adjust a tension; a driving assistance device configured to obtain vehicle driving information for assisting a driving of the vehicle; and a controller coupled to the driving assistance and configured to adjust the tension of the seat belt to correspond to a driving state of the vehicle based on the vehicle driving information obtained through the driving assistance device.

A method and an apparatus for monitoring a motorcycle. Based on the acceleration-relevant data, a vehicle motion and a vehicle position in three-dimensional space are estimated. The vehicle position in space is analyzed and is evaluated as a normal or a critical riding state. A detection direction of a sensor unit is predefined in such a way that in an upright normal resting position of the motorcycle the detection direction lies in a horizontal plane, and the detected acceleration-relevant data encompass a first acceleration component in a longitudinal vehicle direction and a second acceleration component in a transverse vehicle direction. A riding state evaluated as critical is plausibilized with the estimated vehicle motion in order to recognize a critical resting position after an accident. An emergency call is generated when a critical resting position after an accident is recognized.

Detecting off-zone crashes involving a vehicle using lateral acceleration values detected at locations within the vehicle. In one example method, an electronic processor receives a first acceleration value at a centerline of the vehicle from a first acceleration sensor of at least two acceleration sensors. The electronic processor also receives a second acceleration value at the centerline of the vehicle from a second acceleration sensor of the at least two acceleration sensors. The method also includes deriving, with the electronic processor, an approximate yaw acceleration at the centerline of the vehicle based on the first acceleration value and the second acceleration value. The method also includes comparing, with the electronic processor, the approximate yaw acceleration to a threshold and initiating, with the electronic processor, one or more actions in response to the yaw acceleration exceeding the threshold.

A vehicle turn-over determination apparatus includes a turn-over sensor, a memory, a determination processor, and a road-surface detector. The turn-over sensor detects a value of a turn-over angle or a turn-over velocity of a vehicle. The determination processor performs the determination of the turn-over of the vehicle on the basis of the value detected by the turn-over sensor and the determination-threshold information held in the memory. The road-surface detector detects a road surface that is present in a traveling direction of the vehicle. The determination processor varies the determination-threshold information acquired from the memory in accordance with an inclination of the road surface detected by the road-surface detector, and thereby generates adjusted-threshold information adjusted in accordance with the inclination of the road surface. The determination processor compares the adjusted-threshold information and the detected value with each other, and thereby perform the determination of the turn-over of the vehicle.