further action by controller 56 following step 118 method 100 goes to end 106 method 100 desirably repeats each time door 24 is closed or vehicle 22 stops or starts fig4 is a simplified flow chart of method 200 of the present invention according to a further embodiment and showing further details where the same or similar steps occur as in fig3 such steps are identified method 200 is preferably executed by system 50 of fig2 but other electronic processing systems within the car may also be used for convenience of explanation references to which portions of system 50 perform which steps is omitted in the description of fig4 since this is covered sufficiently in connection with fig3 so that persons of skill in the art will understand based on the description therein how such steps are executed by system 50 method 200 begins with start 201 analogous to start 101 of fig3 and under substantially the same conditions as start 100 initial vehicle stopped query 202 is then executed wherein it is determined whether or not vehicle 22 is stopped if the outcome of query 202 is no false then method 200 returns to start 201 in the same manner as method 100 of fig3 if the outcome of query 202 is yes true then method 200 proceeds to d init u2266 d safe query 204 analogous to query 104 wherein it is determined whether or not d init the initial value of d with door 24 still closed is less than d safe defined as the distance from vehicle 22 to edge 32 of door 24 when door 24 is in its maximum open position absent object of vehicle 20 that is when angle 28 has its maximum possible value d safe is a known constant for each.