Different Approaches for Air Bag Triggering Units Using a Firing Bus

Safety systems in the automotive area become more and more important. New sensors inside the passenger compartment evaluate additional information about the occupants. Forward-looking sensors identify the crash severity before the crash really happens.

The variety and also the number of safety units per vehicle continues to rise. Some of these units get smarter than the current units. To control the actuators, a firing bus system is designed. The common part philosophy allows an easy adaptation of this system to different platforms. An image of the safety system is stored in the non volatile memory of the Central Control Unit (C²U). The External Remote Firing Circuits (ERIC) are connected at the desired locations along the bus line(s).