Patent attributes
A plurality of gas generators provide for controllably inflating a plurality of inflatable confinements responsive to a prediction by a predictive collision sensor of both a size of an expected collision object and an expected location of the collision. The inflatable confinements are associated with different zones across a door of a vehicle, each zone having an associated structural stiffness and level of proximity to the occupant. For a pole-like object expected to impact a relatively less-stiff zone of the vehicle, the inflatable confinements are controlled so as to deflect the point of impact towards a stiffer zone away from the occupant. For a barrier-like object, inflatable confinements associated with relatively stiff zones are inflated relatively higher than those associated with relatively less stiff zones so as to transfer impact energy to the relatively stiff zones.
