US Patent 7353087 Collision object discrimination apparatus for vehicles

A collision object discrimination apparatus for vehicles includes two collision detection sensors for discriminating kinds of a collision object based on two sensor outputs. The collision object is determined based on a collision width (W) detected by a collision width detection sensor fitted to a vehicle body. Alternatively, the collision object is determined based on a difference between operation characteristics of the two sensors. Further alternatively, the two sensors are integrated into a single unit including a plurality of censor cells.