Abstract: Circuit arrangement for triggering a vehicle passenger protection system, having a plurality of triggers (ZP1, ZP2, ZP3), through which (ZP1, ZP2, ZP3) in the event of a sufficiently serious accident a current impulse is conducted in each case, which for its part is intended to trigger the protection, one or more triggering switches (SS in FIGS. 1 and 2), the switching path of which (SS) in each case is non-conductive before the accident, and in the event of a sufficiently serious accident makes the transition to its conductive state and thus causes the current impulse through the triggers (ZP1, ZP2, ZP3), a plurality of current branches (ZP1/C2, ZP2/C5, ZP3/C9), which in each case contain at least one of the triggers, for example a primer capsule (ZP1, ZP2, ZP3), and a capacitor (C2, C5, C9), and a parallel circuit which is formed by the parallel circuit of the current branches (ZP1/C2, ZP2/C5, ZP3/C9).

Abstract: A control unit for a passenger restraint and/or protection system for vehicles includes a sensor for generating an electronic analog output signal corresponding to accelerations or decelerations. An evaluation circuit determines if threshold values are exceeded. A tripping circuit trips a passenger-protection component if a threshold value is exceeded. Each sensor output signal is subjected to evaluations by supplying the signal to the evaluation circuit. Each evaluation circuit evaluates a temporal course by different criteria and by differently defined threshold values. The evaluation circuit uses typical characteristics of the temporal course and a definition of the threshold value to distinguish between accidents of at least two different types. The evaluation circuit ascertains the severity of the type of accident individually assigned to it from typical characteristics of the temporal course and from a definition for a threshold value.