Inventors:
Joseph Seibert - Cincinnati OH, US
International Classification:
B60R 22/48, B60W 50/14, B60R 22/10
Abstract:
A child seat-vehicle safety system for a passenger vehicle, including at least one child seat buckle signaling device, which includes a buckling detector, and a buckling detector for signaling the buckle status, and a portable controller device that attaches to the On-Board Diagnostic II (OBD-II) port of the vehicle, for detecting the status of the vehicle ignition system, receiving the buckle status signal, and generating an alarm signal in response to a predetermined condition of the ignition status and the buckle status signal. The portable controller device also can include an alarm that is responsive to the alarm signal. The invention includes a method of warning a vehicle operator that a child has been left buckled in a vehicle after the vehicle's ignition system has been turned off, including detecting the vehicle ignition status selected from “on” and “off” through the OBD-II port, receiving a buckle status signal transmitted from the child seat buckle signaling device, and generating an alarm signal when the ignition status is “off” and the buckle status signal is ‘buckled’ beyond a predetermined grace or timeout period.