Rollover protection for motor vehicles

The present invention relates to a new type of safety system that is designed to protect a vehicle occupant during a rollover crash. The safety system will generally include a vehicle seat and a sensor. The sensor is designed to sense the occurrence of a rollover crash. The safety system also includes a support member that has an undeployed mode and a deployed mode. The support member converts from the undeployed mode into the deployed mode when a signal is received from the sensor indicating a rollover. The support member will generally be housed within the vehicle seat when the support member is in the undeployed mode. The support member is also anchored to the floor pan of the vehicle. When the support member is deployed into the deployed mode, the support member is disposed in effective engagement with the vehicle roof to limit movement of the roof toward the vehicle seat during rollover conditions. Accordingly, the likelihood that the vehicle roof will be collapsed onto the vehicle occupant during a crash is significantly reduced.