Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Mitsuba Electric Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Hidehiko Anzai

Masahiko Asakura

Norimitsu Kurihara

Mitsuru Matsui

A cruise control system for maintaining the speed of a vehicle at a fixed, set speed, comprising an actuator including an electric motor which actuates a speed control member via an electromagnetic clutch. To ensure the capability of the cruise control system to decelerate the vehicle even when it is traveling a steep and long downhill, and the normal operation of the cruise control system becomes inadequate for curbing the excessive increase of the vehicle speed, the electromagnetic clutch is disengaged whereby the speed control member is returned to the position for maximum deceleration. Since the operation of the cruise control system is not canceled even when the vehicle speed is increased substantially beyond the set speed, the cruise control system can readily return to its normal operation even after the vehicle is accelerated from the state of cruise control by stepping on the accelerator pedal, for instance for passing another car. To avoid frequent activation of the electromagnetic clutch, there may be defined an intermediate speed range in which a boosted deceleration signal is supplied to the electric motor for a deceleration action which is more boosted than a normal deceleration signal.

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Saitama, Japan

Hidehiko Anzai