The present invention relates to systems for determining the position and the type of an occupant in a vehicle. More specifically, the present invention provides an occupant position and type classification system including an occupant detection module, a processor in communication with the occupant detection module, and memory accessible by the processor and storing program instructions executable by the processor to perform the steps of categorizing the occupant into one of a plurality of static categories, each of the static categories including at least one class indicative of the occupant's type or position in the vehicle, and classifying the occupant into one of the classes.