Vehicle safety system implementing algorithm for early sensing of high-speed full overlap crash events

A method for controlling an actuatable safety device for protecting an occupant of a vehicle includes sensing a left upfront vehicle acceleration via a left upfront sensor, sensing a middle upfront vehicle acceleration via a middle upfront sensor, and sensing a right upfront vehicle acceleration via a right upfront sensor. The method also includes sensing a central vehicle acceleration via a central airbag control unit. The method further includes determining the occurrence of a vehicle crash event in response to determining that each of the left, middle, and right upfront vehicle accelerations exceeds a predetermined magnitude and is phase shifted from the central vehicle acceleration.