Abstract: A system and method for controlling deployment of an inflatable passenger restraint. Acceleration of a passenger compartment is monitored, and first, second and third terms are determined based on a different average accelerations of the passenger compartment. The terms are compared to respective thresholds, and a first signal is generated if at least one of the first, second or third thresholds is exceeded. If the first signal is generated and the velocity of the passenger compartment exceeds a velocity threshold with offset, the inflatable restraint is deployed.

Abstract: A system and method for controlling deployment of an inflatable passenger restraint utilize distance-based thresholds to improve deployment time in high-speed crash events and to improve event discrimination for side impacts. The invention uses an acceleration signal to calculate distance and to calculate average acceleration using three buffers holding differing numbers of samples. The three average accelerations are used to determine the length of the acceleration curves above and below the zero axis which is defined as positive and negative jerk. Average acceleration and jerk are compared to the distance-based thresholds to determine whether or not to deploy the inflatable restraint.