Importance

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Abstract

An airbag system for protecting the occupants of an automotive vehicle during collisions, the airbag system including airbags for the driver and front-seat passenger, and a sensor system for detecting the increase in deceleration of the vehicle during a collision and for triggering controlled inflation of the airbags in accordance with the detected increase in deceleration. The airbag associated with the front-seat passenger being inflatable in two stages, the first inflation stage being triggerable in response to an output signal from the sensor system generated when the detected increase in deceleration is equal to or greater than a first threshold value, and the second inflation stage being triggerable in response to an output signal from the sensor system generated when the detected increase is equal to or greater than a second threshold value which is higher than the first threshold value. The airbag associated with the driver being inflatable only when the second threshold value has been equalled or exceeded. The sensor system is provided with a delay arrangement for delaying at least the triggering of the second inflation stage with respect to the triggering of the first inflation stage by a predetermined delay time period.

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First Claim