Abstract
The primary function of an occupant classification (OC) system is to provide reliable passenger seat occupancy information to the automobile's central processing unit to control airbag deployment. This paper describes an OC sensor system that is based on analysis of the seat occupancy pressure profile, which discerns human like from human unlike profiles. If the occupancy is identified as a person, an allocation into one of four morphologic ranges is made. Accordingly, children, light adults, heavy children, medium adults, and heavy adults can all be discerned. (A)