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Automotive Industry

TRW works to solve smart airbag problem - Process

Automotive Industries, Oct, 2002 by Andrea Wielgat

Spurred by questions about the real world safety of smart airbags, automakers and suppliers are rushing to find a proven alternative to unreliable seat sensors -- but they don't have much time. The National Highway and Safety Administration (NHSTA) has said automakers must install smart airbags on 35 percent of their '04 models. That means automakers must have the technology validated and available for introduction by next spring.

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Smart airbags, using sensors in the passenger seat in theory sense" a passenger's size and deploy an airbag at a force appropriate to protect the passenger. But sensors in the seat of the vehicle can be confused, say engineers at TRW Automotive and other companies. If something is shoved under the seat or if the passenger is in the wrong position, the sensor can misread the occupant and potentially set off a deadly airbag deployment says Roger McCurdy, director of research and development for TRW.

TRW's solution is to use a vision occupant-sensing position system. The vision system uses a tiny stereo camera system mounted in the overhead console. The camera faces back into the cockpit to track the passenger. The stereo video mode allows data to be triangulated to pinpoint the position of the occupant. If the occupant ends up in a zone that would prove deadly if an airbag deploys, the system will prevent that deployment.

Basically, the system follows the position of the occupant's head and its distance to the airbag, McCurdy says.

It can distinguish between an empty seat, rear facing Infant seat and a seated adult or child, TRW says. It also operates in a range of environments including light, temperature, humidity and vibration -- areas where current sensors can be confused.

Additionally, it does not use weight sensors, belt tension sensors or seat position indicators which are said to be unreliable in classifying a passenger. Instead the camera does all the sensing and data gathering giving a more accurate picture of what is happening inside the vehicle.

TRW's system is not set for introduction until the '07 model year, but eventually it could be combined with other future safety technology including lane departure warning and tools that detect if a driver has fallen asleep, When linked to a telematics system, it could also allow the vehicle owner to see exactly who is in their vehicle remotely -- bad news for the kids borrowing dad's car.

In the meantime, TRW also pushes forward with its weight-sensing smart airbags confident its system avoids some of the problems others are having, says a spokesperson.

"The earlier you deploy the safety features the better off you'll be," says Alain Charlois, product planning director, occupant safety systems for TRW.

The vision-sensing systems and smart airbags are just one step in TRW's plan to concentrate on safety systems, where the supplier sees future growth. TRW's strategy is to use both active and passive safety systems to move from reactive to anticipatory and on through to predictive.

The company believes that if safety systems are applied faster, accidents will be prevented.

"Cars are intrinsically safe," says Peter Lake, vice president, sales and business development for TRW. "It's the way we use them that's unsafe."

Automotive Industry

TRW works to solve smart airbag problem - Process

Automotive Industries, Oct, 2002 by Andrea Wielgat

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