Passenger protection apparatus for a vehicle

A passenger protection apparatus for a vehicle according to the invention has an excellent effect in that lower limbs of the vehicle occupant can be successfully held even during a frontal offset impact or an oblique impact. The passenger protection apparatus includes a pair of active knee bolsters (24,25) provided in an instrument panel or at a vicinity thereof, each bolster (24,25) being capable of restraining a corresponding lower limb of a passenger; a detector which, at a time of a collision, can detect a direction thereof; and a controller which, in accordance with the detection, can control the active knee bolsters (24,25) independently from each other.