acceleration g r from the right or g l from the left the sensors 6 for lateral integration are typically acceleration sensors but are now increasingly pressure sensors the respective output signals a of the sensors are scanned by the microcontrollers arranged in the evaluation unit 3 one of which then executes a crash discrimination algorithm to differentiate between an actual collision and the normal dynamic vehicle response one microcontroller in the evaluation unit 3 which is preferably independent of crash processing uses a safing routine to carry out continuous and or cyclical diagnosis of the system to ensure that it is operating correctly and is available in the event of an accident the sensors 17 18 19 20 arranged in the central sensor field 5 like those arranged at the sides 6 have to be extremely reliable so that they do not send the microcontroller 3 any incorrect signals a which could result in unwanted activation of the restraint means the driver is therefore notified of any fault e g by means of an airbag warning light on the dashboard not shown and the restraint function is blocked until the error has been eliminated if the airbags have to be deployed in the event of a collision the evaluation unit 3 activates a trigger current switch 4 so that current flows through the trigger circuits of the trigger for the driver 39 s front airbag 7 the trigger for the passenger 39 s front airbag 8 the trigger for the side airbag 9 the trigger for the belt tensioner 10 etc thereby activating the belt tensioners and activating the gas generation response within the inflation module fig2 shows the operating principle of.