To enhance the lower limb protecting performance for an occupant in accordance with the seat position about the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle.
An occupant lower limb protecting device 10 includes a seat sensor 32 which senses the position of the driver seat about the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle and judges the physique of the occupant, a seat belt sensor 40 which senses whether the occupant puts on a seat belt, and a controller 72 which controls the inflation of a lower airbag and upper air bag of a knee airbag device 50 on the basis of the obtained position of the driver seat and the result from sensing whether the seat belt is put on. Accordingly the actuation condition of the knee airbag device 50 can be optimized according to the physique of the occupant and his wearing/nonwearing of the seat belt, which leads to enhancement of the occupant lower limb protecting performance.
Kato Kazunori
Katsuichi Nishimoto
Hiroshi Fukuda