This invention relates generally to airbag doors and, more particularly, to airbag doors which make use of an electromagnetic field thereon functioning as a safety device in controlling airbag deployment.
Whereas thousands of lives have been saved by airbags, a large number of vehicle occupants have also been injured, some seriously, by deploying airbags. For a variety of reasons vehicle occupants may be too close to the airbag before it deploys and can be seriously injured or killed as a result of the deployment thereof.
In response, so called xe2x80x9cout-of-positionxe2x80x9d occupant sensors have been developed is to determine the location of the head and/or chest of the vehicle occupant relative to the airbag based on the presumption it is the impact of either the head or chest with the deploying airbag which can result in serious injuries.
While the impact of a vehicle occupant""s head or chest with a deploying airbag may result in serious injuries, equally serious injuries may result from a vehicle occupant""s contact with the airbag deployment door or objects located thereon which may be transformed into projectiles upon deployment. In such an instance, the so called xe2x80x9cout-of-positionxe2x80x9d occupant sensors which sense the location of the vehicle occupant""s head and/or chest may offer no benefit to a correctly positioned occupant.
For example, some vehicle occupants while in proper position for airbag deployment, rest their feet on the instrument panel, often directly on the airbag deployment door. Still other vehicle occupants, also in proper position for airbag deployment, place objects such as books, coffee cups, pens, sunglasses, cigarettes, keys, documents, soda cans, palm computers, portable CD-players, portable phones, radar detectors and other similar items directly on the airbag deployment door.
In light of the forgoing disadvantages of out-of-position sensors, what is needed is an airbag deployment safety device which can detect foreign objects (i.e. items not provided by the vehicle manufacturer at the time of vehicle manufacture) located on and around an air bag deployment door and, in response to the presence of such objects, temporarily disarm the airbag system. Then, once the objects are removed, the airbag deployment safety device can rearm the airbag system, making it again ready for use.
An airbag deployment safety device is provided comprising a first conductive path for receiving an input signal, a second conductive path for receiving an induced signal through electromagnetic coupling of the first conductive path and the second conductive path, and a processor circuit configured to control deployment of the airbag in response to a comparison of the induced signal to a predetermined signal. By the term xe2x80x9ccontrol deploymentxe2x80x9d of the airbag, it is meant that the processor circuit will either permit or prevent airbag deployment when otherwise initiated by an external triggering event.
According to another aspect of the invention, a method of triggering the deployment of an airbag is provided comprising receiving an input signal to a first conductive path, receiving an induced signal to a second conductive path through electromagnetic coupling of the first conductive path and the second conductive path, comparing the induced signal with a predetermined signal, and controlling deployment of the airbag in response to the comparison of the induced signal to the predetermined signal.
According to another aspect of the invention, in the method of controlling the deployment of an airbag, the predetermined signal comprises a range of predetermined signals having an upper limit and a lower limit and the step of controlling deployment of the airbag in response to the comparison of the induced signal to the predetermined signal further comprises permitting deployment of the airbag in response to the comparison of the induced signal to the predetermined signal when the induced signal is within the range of predetermined signals and not permitting deployment of the airbag in response to the comparison of the induced signal to the predetermined signal when the induced signal is outside the range of predetermined signals.
According to another aspect of the invention, a trim panel for a motor vehicle is provided comprising a first conductive path for receiving an input signal, a second conductive path for receiving an induced signal through electromagnetic coupling of the first conductive path and the second conductive path, and an airbag deployment door.
According to another aspect of the invention, an airbag deployment door is provided comprising at least a portion of one of a first conductive path and a second conductive path, the first conductive path for receiving an input signal and the second conductive path for receiving an induced signal through electromagnetic coupling of the first conductive path and the second conductive path.
According to another aspect of the invention, an airbag deployment door having an outer surface is provided, an electromagnetic field overlying at least a portion of the outer surface of the airbag deployment door, the electromagnetic field configured to trigger deployment of an airbag.