Vehicle occupant position and velocity sensor

Claim 1

Motor vehicle air bag system, for inflation and deployment of an air bag in front of a passenger in a motor vehicle during a collision, said motor vehicle having a passenger compartment for at least one passenger in said motor vehicle, said passenger compartment also having an interior roof, and having a windshield at the forward end of said passenger compartment, and having a passenger seat for said passenger, said airbag system comprising: (a) an air bag; (b) inflation means, connected to said airbag, for inflating said air bag with a gas; (c) passenger sensor means, mounted adjacent to said interior roof of said vehicle, for continuously sensing position of said passenger, with respect to said passenger compartment, and for generating electrical output indicative of said position of said passenger; (d) microprocessor means, electrically connected to said passenger sensor means and to said inflation means, for comparing and performing an analysis of said electrical output from said passenger sensor means, and for activating said inflation means to inflate and deploy said air bag, when said analysis indicates that said vehicle is involved in a collision and that deployment of said air bag would likely reduce a risk of serious injury to said passenger which would exist absent deployment of said air bag and likely would not present an increased risk of injury to said passenger resulting from deployment of said air bag.