VEHICLE OCCUPANT DETECTION DEVICE

The present invention relates to a vehicle occupant detection device (14, 102) for capturing as an image the behavior of a vehicle occupant (12), who is seated on a seat (34) of a vehicle, by image capture means (26a, 26b) and detecting the position of a specific portion of the vehicle occupant (12). When it is determined that the vehicle occupant (12) is present, a control unit (54, 116) controls the image capture means (26a, 26b) so that image capture is performed in a high-speed mode in which image capture intervals are relatively small, and when it is determined that the occupant (12) is not present, image capture is performed in a low-speed mode in which image capture intervals are relatively large.