Patent 7488015 was granted and assigned to BAYERISCHE MOTOREN WERKE AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT on February, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Systems and methods for pedestrian impact detection are provided. Piezoelectric sensor elements detect an object impacting a vehicle. The detected signal is attenuated and filtered. The attenuated and filtered signal is analyzed in the frequency domain to determine whether the object which impacted the vehicle is a pedestrian. If the object which impacted the vehicle is a pedestrian, then a pedestrian protection system is deployed.