Introduced in the 1997 Mercedes-Benz SLK, CPOD systems are now available to other manufacturers who desire to not only sense whether a child seat is present, but, perhaps more importantly, to determine the seat's orientation - if the seat is detected to be rear facing, the system automatically deactivates the passenger side airbag in the event of a collision.
CPOD is designed to be a low-cost, fail-safe passive system that assures high reliability when integrated into any currently manufactured seat design. It utilizes simple, yet robust, technology that:
-Detects automatically the presence and type of child seat.
-Determines the orientation of the seat, whether it is front or rear facing, or simply out of position.
-Integrates smoothly with Passenger Presence Detection (PPD) functions.
-Remains completely invisible to the user.
Key Design Features
CPOD offers automotive designers ultimate design freedom because the sensor's slim, flexible design adapts easily to any seat form or contour, and is unaffected by user-placed seat covers.
No additional parts need to be assembled by the car seat manufacturer. Two resonators within the child seat are automatically activated by the CPOD antenna within the passenger seat, allowing continuous monitoring and proven fail-safe functionality with no power supply required on the child seat.
The result of a partnership with Siemens CPOD Automotive, IEE is the only time-proven technology currently available to automatically safeguard young children from airbag deployment injuries.