US 12,071,089 B2
Passive pedestrian protection system utilizing inputs from active safety system
Charles A. Bartlett, Commerce Township, MI (US); Pawel Koziel, Czestochowa (PL); Michal Duchowski, Czestochowa (PL); Kiran Balasubramanian, Canton, MI (US); and Kyeora Lee, Seoul (KR)
Assigned to ZF FRIEDRICHSHAFEN AG, Friedrichshafen (DE)
Appl. No. 17/791,046
Filed by ZF FRIEDRICHSHAFEN AG, Friedrichshafen (DE)
PCT Filed Jan. 17, 2020, PCT No. PCT/US2020/014003
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jul. 6, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/145884, PCT Pub. Date Jul. 22, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2023/0032994 A1, Feb. 2, 2023
Int. Cl. B60R 21/0134 (2006.01); B60R 21/36 (2011.01); B60R 21/38 (2011.01)
CPC B60R 21/0134 (2013.01) [B60R 21/36 (2013.01); B60R 21/38 (2013.01)] 24 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vehicle safety system for helping to protect a pedestrian in the event of a vehicle frontal collision with the pedestrian, comprising:
a plurality of crash sensors for sensing a vehicle frontal collision;
an actuatable pedestrian protection device;
a controller for controlling actuation of the pedestrian protection device, the controller being operative to determine the occurrence of a collision with a pedestrian in response to signals received from the crash sensors; and
at least one active sensor for determining the presence of a pedestrian in the path of the vehicle;
wherein the controller is configured to determine the occurrence of a collision with a pedestrian using normal crash discrimination metrics implementing normal thresholds for determining whether signals received from the crash sensors indicate the occurrence of a collision with the pedestrian; and
wherein, in response to determining the presence of a pedestrian in the path of the vehicle using the active sensor, the controller is configured to determine the occurrence of a collision with a pedestrian using hybrid crash discrimination metrics implementing hybrid thresholds, lower than the normal thresholds, for determining whether signals received from the crash sensors indicate the occurrence of a collision with the pedestrian.