Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Ryouchi Watanabe

Yoshihisa Yamada

Takeshi Kanou

A steering angle zero point detection unitdetects a zero point of a steering angle of a steering wheel. A zero point history holding unitrecords a detection history of zero points. A characteristic change determination unitdetermines whether or not a characteristic change occurs in the steering transmission system based on a width in the detection history of the zero points.

Characteristic change detection device for steering transmission system

A steering apparatus includes: a steering angle zero point detection unit configured to detect a zero point of a steering angle of a steering wheel; a history recording unit configured to record a detection history of the zero point; a characteristic variation determination unit configured to determine whether or not characteristic variation has occurred in a steering transmission system on the basis of the detection history; a pressure measurement unit configured to measure a pressure in one of a master cylinder and a wheel cylinder that apply a braking force to a vehicle wheel; and a prohibition unit configured to prohibit for a predetermined prohibition period one of detection of the zero point by the steering angle zero point detection unit and updating of the detection history by the history recording unit, when the pressure equals or exceeds a predetermined threshold.

Steering apparatus and control method thereof

A steering apparatus includes a history holding unit recording a zero point maximum value and a zero point minimum value of a steering angle of a steering wheel, a precursor determination unit, and a characteristic variation determination unit. The history holding unit cancels the recorded zero point maximum value and the recorded zero point minimum value respectively, when a predetermined period elapses following the update of the recorded value. When the precursor determination unit determines that the system is in a precursory condition to characteristic variation, the characteristic variation determination unit determines whether or not characteristic variation has occurred in the steering transmission system on the basis of at least one of an amount of increase in the zero point maximum value and an amount of decrease in the zero point minimum value following a point at which the system is determined to be in the precursory condition.

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Susono, Japan

Ryouchi Watanabe