1. A method for classifying a object that is present within a motor vehicle, that method comprising: acquiring an image of the object; segmenting the object into a first segment and a second segment; approximating the first segment with a first geometric shape which is selected from a group consisting of a circle, an ellipse, and a regular polygon and which is defined by a first set of parameters; approximating the second segment with a second geometric shape which is selected from a group consisting of a circle, an ellipse, and a regular polygon and which is defined by a second set of parameters; forming a feature vector from the first and second sets of parameters; comparing the feature vector to plurality of template vectors, each representing different class of objects, to determine probabilities that the object falls within each class; and classifying the object in response to the probabilities.