Steering wheel grip sensor, comprehensive: a controlled
electrode that has a flat shape and extends along a rim of a
steering wheel; a sensor
electrode that has a flat shape and is located opposite the controlled
electrode; a
sine wave generator that supplies a sinusoidal
voltage to the controlled electrode; a
charge amplifier comprising a
capacitive feedback element, detects a change in the amount of charge generated according to the
capacitance of the sensor electrode, and outputs the change in the amount of charge as a change in
voltage; a multiplication processor that multiplies the
sine wave voltage by an output voltage of the
charge amplifier; an
integrator that smooths the result of multiplication by the multiplication processor using integration; and a grip
detector that determines, according to a level of the smoothed result, whether the
steering wheel is being gripped, wherein the
sine wave generator receives a
square wave signal and generates the sine voltage in synchronization with the
square wave signal, the
steering wheel handle sensor further includes a storage facility; a first analog-to-digital (AD) converter that performs an A / D conversion of the output voltage of the
charge amplifier in synchronization with the
square wave signal and stores a result of the A / D conversion as the first
digital data in the memory; and a second A / C converter that performs an A / C conversion of the sine wave voltage from the sine wave generator in synchronization with the square wave signal and stores the result of the A / C conversion as second
digital data in the memory, wherein the first A / D converter and the second A / D converter generate the first
digital data and the second digital data respectively, wherein the first digital data and the second digital data each correspond to at least two cycles of a waveform of the sinusoidal voltage.