Abstract
One of the most important aims of the automotive industry is to provide the best possible protection for drivers, passengers and pedestrians. To achieve these goals and contribute to accident mitigation and/or reduction of accident severity, Bosch is developing new functions within through their modular safety system CAPS (Combined Active and Passive Safety). By linking existing active and passive automobile safety systems and extending these by adding systems for monitoring and evaluating the vehicle´s environment, the foundation for new safety functions is created.
The growing number of airbags in vehicles provides more and better protection against injury for the occupants. In addition, active safety systems such as the Electronic Stability Control ESC help to prevent an accident occurring in the first place. If these systems are linked together, they can share information and provide even better safety for drivers and passengers through new functions. As discussed in this paper, improved operations of the airbags offers especially good potential for improved protection in side pole impacts and rollover events using the vehicle's state, supported by information from the ESC system.
Furthermore, if ultrasonic or radar sensors indicate that an accident is unavoidable; the restraint system performance can be improved by the use of information regarding the oncoming obstacles. One representative in such cases are within low speed rear impacts where anti-whiplash systems such as crash-active head rests could be positioned to prevent soft tissue neck injuries.
The following article presents one important element of the overall CAPS approach: improved occupant protection through the use of vehicle dynamic data and surround sensing systems.
Keywords - Lateral velocity, Pole Impact, Surround Sensing, Rear Impact, Active and Passive Safety