emergency power to the front seat longitudinal position motor to move the seat rapidly rearward or forward as appropriate while maintaining clearance between the front seat passenger and the dashboard the control system actuates rapid reclining of the front seat back without contacting the rear seat passenger safety belt pretensioners are actuated the result is the head of the front seat passenger is optimally positioned rearward and downward away from the intruding roof structure while maintaining clearance for the rear seat occupant if present as mentioned earlier for motor driven safety mechanisms deployment during an accident may require power exceeding that normally available from the vehicle other safety actuators such as slow burn pyrotechnic actuators solenoids and explosive bolts may also require very high power for the duration of actuation beyond what can be supplied from conventional vehicle power systems for this scenario the novel control system may further include supplemental power for emergency operation fig5 illustrates the operation of this aspect of the invention the vehicle has an electrical power source 20 typically a battery and alternator generator driven by the vehicle engine although 12 vdc is a common vehicle operating voltage other voltages are commonly employed and other power supplies such as fuel cells are also possible power sources the specific characteristics of power source 20 are not critical to the invention power from the source 20 is typically routed to components 19 usually engine compartment components which may require very high power.