The techniques of this disclosure relate to a vehicle occupancy-monitoring system. The system includes a controller circuit that receives occupant data from an occupancy-monitoring sensor of a vehicle. The controller circuit determines an occupancy status of respective seats in a cabin of the vehicle based on the occupancy-monitoring sensor. The controller circuit indicates the occupancy status of the respective seats on a display located in a field of view of occupants of the vehicle. The display is integral to one of a roof light module, a door panel, or a headliner of the cabin. The system can improve passenger safety by alerting the operator and other occupants about the occupancy status of the passengers.

A system includes an in-cabin sensor, a seatbelt routing zone module, and a seatbelt routing classification module. The in-cabin sensor is operable to generate an image of an occupant in a vehicle seat. The seatbelt routing zone module is configured to generate a seatbelt routing zone based on at least one of a size of the occupant in the image and a shape of the occupant. The seatbelt routing classification module is configured to determine whether a seatbelt is routed properly around the occupant based on whether the seatbelt is at least partially within the seatbelt routing zone.

A system for managing a seat occupancy status by a passenger and a control method of the system includes a seat belt sensor provided for each seat to detect a fastening or unfastening of the seat belt, a pressure detection unit provided for each seat to detect occupancy or non-occupancy of a seat by a passenger and pressure of the seated passenger, a secondary control unit provided for each seat and woken up by radio communication with a vehicle to alert to an unfastened state of the seat belt when the seat belt is unfastened upon determining, by a seat belt sensor, whether the seat belt is fastened, and a primary control unit provided in the vehicle to perform radio communications with each secondary control unit and check an abnormality based on reception or non-reception of the system data transmitted from the secondary control unit.

Methods, systems and apparatuses may provide for technology that conducts an automated vision analysis of image data associated with an interior of a vehicle cabin, determines a state of a child restraint system (CRS) based on the automated vision analysis, and generates an alert if the state of the CRS does not satisfy one or more safety constraints. In one example, the technology identifies the safety constraint(s) based on a geographic location of the vehicle cabin.

The techniques of this disclosure relate to a vehicle occupancy-monitoring system. The system includes a controller circuit that receives occupant data from an occupancy-monitoring sensor of a vehicle. The controller circuit determines an occupancy status of respective seats in a cabin of the vehicle based on the occupancy-monitoring sensor. The controller circuit indicates the occupancy status of the respective seats on a display located in a field of view of occupants of the vehicle. The display is integral to one of a roof light module, a door panel, or a headliner of the cabin. The system can improve passenger safety by alerting the operator and other occupants about the occupancy status of the passengers.

A child restraint seat sensing device for a vehicle including a structural element at least partially defining a volume, wherein the structural element is located in a vehicle passenger seat between a seat base and seat back or is located behind the vehicle passenger seat, a stationary anchor in the vehicle, wherein the stationary anchor is located within the volume defined by the structural element, and a sensor mounted to the structural element, wherein the sensor is configured to detect whether a child restraint seat connector is attached to the stationary anchor.

A motor vehicle (1) has a driver’s seat (8) which is assigned a safety belt (20) for a driver. The safety belt (20) here is held on a pivotable bracket (13). This bracket (13) is pivotable between a releasing position, which permits entry, and a restraining position, which protects the driver. The bracket (13) here is disposed in such a manner that said bracket (13) in the releasing position holds the safety belt (20) in a position in which the latter impedes the driver. In order to avoid any impediment of the driver in the restraining position of the bracket (13), the bracket (13) above the driver’s seat is elbowed away from the latter. (FIG. 3)

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 seat belt usage monitor identifies the number of miles driven in a vehicle while the seat belt was connected in comparison with the total number of mile driven in the vehicle. The seat belt usage monitor can be displayed to the operator by a screen incorporated into the seat belt buckle or on a display monitor incorporated into the dashboard of the vehicle. The seat belt usage monitor system will track the number of miles driven while the seat belt is connected and make a comparison to the total number of miles driven by the vehicle. An application program on the operator's cellular phone corresponding to the seat belt usage monitor can be connected to the seat belt usage monitor system to transfer the usage data to the cellphone display, and to permit the function of uploading the data to a recipient selected by the operator, such as the operator's insurance company.

In a method for identifying misuse of a seat belt in a vehicle, vehicle data are detected and, based on said data, a plausibility check is performed for determining whether the seat belt is fastened as intended. Signals of at least one belt buckle sensor and of at least one webbing extension sensor are detected and a plausibility check for misuse is performed by taking the time course of the signals and/or the point in time of input of the signals into account so as to make a comparison with stored reference data. A seat belt system in a vehicle for carrying out said method comprises at least one belt buckle sensor and at least one webbing extension sensor as well as at least one seat occupation sensor, one door sensor, one vehicle acceleration sensor and/or one vehicle speedometer as well as a control unit in which the signals of the sensors are stored and evaluated.