1. A method of recognizing and classifying a physical presence occupying a vehicle seat having a occupancy sensing system, said method including the steps of: sensing the output of an array of sensors that detect a physical presence in a seat; applying the sensor array output as a vector representation to a neural net that was trained using a learning vector quantization algorithm; and recognizing the sensor array output as falling within one of a group of predetermined classification patterns that represent a physical presence in the seat defined by size, weight, and physical orientation.