Abstract: A vehicle occupant protection system and a method for actuating a vehicle occupant protection device in a vehicle are provided. The distance from an obstacle is sensed, a braking deceleration which is necessary to avoid a collision is determined, and the determined braking deceleration is used to determine whether a predefined event has occurred. When the predefined event occurs, the vehicle occupant protection device is actuated in order to trigger it or to activate it for the purpose of triggering, the necessary braking deceleration being determined or the determined necessary braking deceleration being evaluated for the occurrence of the predefined event, only if a driver of the vehicle has activated a brake activation element in order to initiate a braking operation.

Abstract: The invention relates to a seatbelt lock (1) having a preventive tensioning device (2) which moves the seatbelt lock (1) from an operating position into a lowered safety position with respect to the operating position and which comprises an energy accumulator (4) and a drive unit (6). According to the invention, the seatbelt lock (1) is maintained preloaded in the operating position by means of the energy accumulator (4), the drive unit (6) transferring the seatbelt lock (1) from the safety position back into the operating position.

Abstract: A supporting structure for a motor vehicle which, at a front end of a safety passenger cell, is provided with a front section with a crumple zone and two wheel housings which are arranged laterally in the region of the crumple zone and in which a respective wheel having a tire and a wheel rim, is arranged. A wheel support ramp which runs obliquely downward, as seen from the travel direction, is formed and causes the respective wheel, which has been moved toward the wheel support ramp as a consequence of a crash-induced deformation of the crumple zone, to be guided downward in the direction of the safety passenger cell. An additional wheel impact element is provided for each wheel and is deformable by the respective wheel (3) that has been moved as a consequence of the crash-induced deformation of the crumple zone.

Abstract: A vehicle occupant protection system of a vehicle having a plurality of adaptive protection system components assigned to a seat in the vehicle, is preset using data relating to the individual occupant of the seat. The identity of the occupant is determined for at least one seat, and a stored safety profile which is assigned to the identified person is retrieved. The protection system components which are assigned to the seat are then set using the safety profile.

Abstract: The invention relates to a child seat (1) which can be fastened to a vehicle seat of a motor vehicle by means of a three-point seat belt (14). It is also possible for the child seat also to be connected to the supporting structure of the vehicle via an ISOFIX fastening system (17). The three-point seat belt (14) is equipped with a tightening device. The child seat (1) has its own belt system for securing a child sitting on the child seat. According to the invention, it is proposed that the three-point seat belt (14) be coupled to the belt system of the child seat (1). This coupling makes it possible, during a preventative or crash-active tightening of the three-point seat belt (14), for the belt system of the child seat (1) also to be tightened without a separate tightening device being necessary.

Abstract: The body of passenger motor vehicles comprises, among other things, two longitudinal bearers and a rear end having a rear end middle piece. In order to minimize the extent of repair of damages to the rear end, the invention provides that the rear bumper bending bearer is bolted as a lower module in the area of the rear longitudinal bearer to the body via deformation elements provided for absorbing energy. In order to minimize the complexity of repairs of damages involving a greater extent of deformation to the rear end, the invention additionally provides that the entire rear end middle piece or portions thereof is/are structured as another lower module of the rear end module that can be bolted to the body.

Abstract: An air bag system for a passenger car, in particular a convertible, with at least one inflatable air bag is disclosed. To increase the protection of the passengers, the air bag is housed in a roof frame of the car enclosing at the top a windshield of the passenger car. When the air bag is actuated, it unfolds in the opposite direction of travel of the car in such a manner that, after it unfolds, the air bag is located above the head of the driver and/or the passenger.

Abstract: The body of passenger motor vehicles comprises, among other things, two longitudinal bearers and a rear end having a rear end middle piece. In order to minimize the extent of repair of damages to the rear end, the invention provides that the rear bumper bending bearer (2) is bolted as a lower module (1) in the area of the rear longitudinal bearer to the body via deformation elements (4) provided for absorbing energy. In order to minimize the complexity of repairs of damages involving a greater extent of deformation to the rear end, the invention additionally provides that the entire rear end middle piece or portions thereof is/are structured as another lower module (10) of the rear end module that can be bolted to the body.

Abstract: A load-bearing structure for motor vehicles has a load-bearing floor of lightweight construction merging at its front in a footwell region into an upwardly projecting end wall. The structure also has a front-end structure which forms a crumple zone, is supported in the region of the end wall, and includes lightweight structural panels running in the longitudinal and transverse directions of the vehicle. The footwell region is bounded laterally and at the top by a panel arrangement of lightweight construction which, together with the floor and the end wall, forms a supporting box for the front-end structure.

Abstract: A head restraint for a motor vehicle has a fixed support part and a movable, prestressed part. The parts are connected to each other via at least one upper and one lower lever, in which case the movable part can be moved from a normal position into a protective position and vice versa. The movable head-restraint part can be shifted forwards in a simple manner in that the levers are arranged parallel to each other. In order to prestress the movable part at least one spring is provided that engages at its one end on the fixed support part and at its other end directly or indirectly on one of the two levers.

Abstract: A motor vehicle having a lamp unit which is arranged on the outwardly facing end of a supporting structure of the vehicle, the arrangement of the lamp unit including an energy-absorbing deformation element which surrounds the circumference of an associated reflector and as a consequence of being supported axially on an opposite surface of the supporting structure collapses, with a reduction in length, when subjected to excessive impact stress, and the reflector forming a constructional unit together with a transparent lens and a lamp housing. The lamp housing itself is designed as an energy-absorbing deformation element.

Abstract: A support structure for a vehicle is comprised primarily of multi-walled lightweight panels with plane-parallel flat sides, and at least one fitting can be fastened to the support structure. An opening is cut out of a lightweight panel of the support structure that is designated for the fitting, and the fitting can be installed in this opening, covering the opening completely. A support arrangement attached to the fitting operates in conjunction with the edge of the opening in the lightweight panel as an installation stop for the fitting.

Abstract: In a method for restraining vehicle occupants in which the loads on the vehicle occupants are reduced during the restraining process, a method for restraining vehicle occupants by dissipating kinetic energy provides that firstly a possible accident is sensed and then a force which acts in the direction of the impact is applied to the vehicle occupant at the latest at the time of the first contact between the vehicle and the obstacle, the force being set over the entire braking distance so that a constant acceleration acts on the vehicle occupant so that the dissipation of the kinetic energy occurs uniformly.

Abstract: A head restraint for a motor vehicle has a fixed support part and a movable, prestressed part. The parts are connected to each other via at least one upper and one lower lever, in which case the movable part can be moved from a normal position into a protective position and vice versa. The movable head-restraint part can be shifted forwards in a simple manner in that the levers are arranged parallel to each other. In order to prestress the movable part at least one spring is provided that engages at its one end on the fixed support part and at its other end directly or indirectly on one of the two levers.

Abstract: An air bag system for a passenger car, in particular a convertible, with at least one inflatable air bag is disclosed. To increase the protection of the passengers, the air bag is housed in a roof frame of the car enclosing at the top a windshield of the passenger car. When the air bag is actuated, it unfolds in the opposite direction of travel of the car in such a manner that, after it unfolds, the air bag is located above the head of the driver and/or the passenger.

Abstract: A side-impact damping device for a vehicle is provided for arrangement in an area of a B-column of the vehicle. A panel faces the vehicle occupants, and an airbag is present between the panel and the vehicle body. A sensor unit activates the airbag in the event of a side impact. The vehicle occupants sitting on the impact side are impacted with an acceptable force through the activated airbag and as a result are accelerated in the direction of the center of the vehicle.

Abstract: A heat exchanger arrangement on a front carrying structure of a motor vehicle, with a passage orifice for the cooling-air stream which is largely overlapped by a heat exchanger module of the arrangement and which extends in a vehicle transverse plane and is delimited on two mutually opposite sides by wall regions of the carrying structure, the wall regions belong to the deformable zone of the forward structure. The heat exchanger module is mounted on the front carrying structure in such a way that, in the event of head-on collisions subjecting the region of the passage orifice to stress, said heat exchanger module, while absorbing impact energy, co-operates reinforcingly with the wall regions of the carrying structure.

Abstract: A motor vehicle having a lamp unit which is arranged on the outwardly facing end of a supporting structure of the vehicle, the arrangement of the lamp unit including an energy-absorbing deformation element which surrounds the circumference of an associated reflector and as a consequence of being supported axially on an opposite surface of the supporting structure collapses, with a reduction in length, when subjected to excessive impact stress, and the reflector forming a constructional unit together with a transparent lens and a lamp housing. The lamp housing itself is designed as an energy-absorbing deformation element.

Abstract: A passenger car has a vehicle body with a passenger compartment and support structure including a collision responsive deformable front zone in front of the passenger compartment, a deformable rear zone behind the passenger compartment and at least one deformable center zone aligned to the passenger compartment and integrated in the vehicle body support structure and also effective in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. The deformable center zone includes corrugations in passenger compartment floor structure members.

Abstract: The invention relates to a bumper for a vehicle body having two side members (11, 12), said bumper consisting of a bumper bracket (13) extending over the width of the body, with two deformation members (14, 15) projecting at right angles from the back at a distance from one another, said members being integral with bumper bracket (13) and being connectable by bolt connections (20) with side members (11, 12). The deformation members (14, 15) are more resistant to deformation than bumper bracket (13), so that they deform to absorb additional energy only when the ability of bumper bracket (13) to deform is exhausted.