Electronic System Design for Future Passenger Restraint Systems

In comparison to a standard dual airbag system as of today, future restraint systems will introduce a variety of new and additional actuator devices which help to improve the overall restraint performance. Furthermore, sensors and sensor-subsystems will be added to improve and extend the range of crash detection and to enable an automatic adaptation of the restraint system to a given status of the vehicle, its occupants and the crash severity.

The implementation and control of these new functions require an appropriate design of the overall restraint system electronics. Two approaches are described in greater detail: the modular design based on functional building blocks, and the implementation as a distributed system including communication links.