Abstract: A motor vehicle control system having a coil switch which is connected to the vehicle electric system is intended to permit reliable operation of a coil switch without power losses in the semiconductor switches. For this purpose, a step-up converter is connected between the vehicle electric system and the coil switch.

Abstract: From a prescribed starting value, the emitting power of an obstacle detection beam increases or decreases according to a prescribed function at a prescribed rate. The received signal reflected from an obstacle is compared to a prescribed threshold. Once the received reflected power rises or falls to the threshold, the emitting power is not further increased or decreased respectively, but is maintained constant. Thereby, consumed and dissipated power is reduced, unnecessary excessive power use is avoided, and the detection range of the obstacle detection beam is adapted to the prevailing situation.

Abstract: From a prescribed starting value, the emitting power of an obstacle detection beam increases or decreases according to a prescribed function at a prescribed rate. The received signal reflected from an obstacle is compared to a prescribed threshold. Once the received reflected power rises or falls to the threshold, the emitting power is not further increased or decreased respectively, but is maintained constant. Thereby, consumed and dissipated power is reduced, unnecessary excessive power use is avoided, and the detection range of the obstacle detection beam is adapted to the prevailing situation.

Abstract: A passive safety device (62) is triggered for protecting vehicle passengers in the event of a collision. The output signals of a signal acceleration sensor (1) are integrated to form a signal which triggers the deployment of the safety device when a threshold value for the integrated signal is exceeded and simultaneously additional criteria are met. These conditions are met in a simple circuit with a single acceleration sensor (1), so that the entire apparatus including the safety device (62) can be installed compactly in a steering wheel of a motor vehicle. In addition to a first signal evaluation channel in which the sensor signal is integrated once, there is at least one second signal evaluation channel including two integrators (20) and (23) in which the sensor signal is integrated twice to provide a distance signal that is evaluated by a further threshold value switch (24).