US Patent Issued to GM Global Technology Operations on April 15 for "System and method for determining whether a seatbelt buckle extender is used in conjunction with a seatbelt" (Michigan Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,275,370, issued on April 15, was assigned to GM Global Technology Operations LLC (Detroit).

"System and method for determining whether a seatbelt buckle extender is used in conjunction with a seatbelt" was invented by Scott D. Thomas (Novi, Mich.) and Sean Taylor Coughlin (Shelby Township, Mich.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A system includes a first webbing payout sensor configured to detect a first webbing payout of a seatbelt associated with a vehicle seat, the first webbing payout being a length of webbing extended from a retractor of the seatbelt, an occupant detection module configured to identify a state of the vehicle seat, the o...