An active occupant restraint system for a motor vehicle has a central control unit and a plurality of active restraining devices with associated triggering units which are connected to the central control unit for the transmission of ignition information by an ignition bus line system having at least one ring line and/or at least one stub line. The triggering units within a respective ring and/or stub line of the ignition bus line system are arranged as a function of a predeterminable protection significance priority of the restraining devices assigned to the triggering units such that, with a decreasing protection significance priority, they are situated farther away from the central control unit. The occupant restraint system comprises one or more multistage restraining devices with pertaining triggering units, with the triggering unit pertaining to a higher stage of each multistage restraining device arranged in the corresponding ring or stub line closer to the central control unit than the triggering unit pertaining to a lower stage.