A pre-crash sensing system (10) for a source vehicle (50) having a source vehicle length and a source vehicle width that is coupled to a countermeasure system (30) is described. The system includes an object sensor (17) generating an object distance signal, object relative velocity signal and an object classification signal. A controller (12) is coupled to the object sensor (17). The controller determines a danger zone based on the source vehicle length, source vehicle width and object length and object width. The source vehicle time interval is determined by the controller (12) corresponding to the time the source vehicle is within the danger zone. The controller (12) determines the object time interval corresponding to the time the object is within the danger zone. The controller (12) determines a point of impact in response to the object time interval and the source vehicle time interval. The controller (12) activates the countermeasure in response to the point of impact.