US Patent 7327236 Method and device for recognizing a collision

The invention relates to a method and to a device for recognizing a collision, especially a side impact, for passenger protection means in a motor vehicle. The invention describes a method, especially in the case of side impact events, which differentiates between non-trigger situations and must-trigger situations by evaluating the frequency spectrum of the output signal (a) of an acceleration or pressure sensor as comprehensively as possible. The advantages of the invention are: robustness in relation to modifications in the signal amplitudes and the invention requires no previous knowledge of possible resonance frequencies. Another advantage of the invention is that no frequencies of the output signal (a) are blocked or suppressed.