system monitors the occupant sensors at block 76 if however a vehicle impact has not been sensed then the system returns to block 72 as represented by block 78 the presence of an occupant is determined 78 if at block 78 the system determines that no occupants are present then the system returns to block 76 if at block 78 the system determines that an occupant is present then at block 80 the system determines the occupant 39 s location within the passenger compartment of the vehicle and or physical characteristics i e size weight height etc based on this information at block 82 the system determines whether to deploy the active knee bolsters if the system determines that the active knee bolsters are to be deployed then at block 84 the system determines whether the occupant is above or below a predefined threshold based on the measured physical characteristics of the occupant the predefined occupant threshold may be for instance whether the occupant has the physical characteristics that are equal to or greater than that of a 50 percentile male occupant in other words if the occupant 39 s weight and size and location whether the passenger compartment indicates that the occupant has the characteristics of a fifth percentile female then the system would determine that the occupant is below the predefined threshold on the other.