Nissan Motor Company Limited

Tetsuya Osonoi

Takaaki Eguchi

Noriki Kubokawa

Kazuo Hara

Naotaka Chino

Kiyotaka Shitamitsu

Hitoshi Ono

Takuya Narasaki

Toshirou Yoda

Koutarou Shiino

A steering wheel is coupled to a steering gear via a steering shaft, an intermediate shaft, a clutch input shaft and a clutch output shaft. When viewed in a vehicle transverse direction, a tilt angle &#x3b1; of the clutch input shaft relative to the horizontal plane is set to be smaller than a tilt angle &#x3b2; of the intermediate shaft relative to the horizontal plane. A steering column is supported by a vehicle body via a tilt pivot for adjusting a tilt position. Even when the steering column is located at any tilt position, the relationship of &#x3b1;&#x3c;&#x3b2; is set to be maintained when viewed in the vehicle transverse direction. The center position of a universal joint between the steering shaft and the intermediate shaft is misaligned with the center position of the tilt pivot when viewed in the vehicle transverse direction.

Steering apparatus

A vehicle steering apparatus with improved safety securely detects whether or not a backup system is operable and comprises a steering shaft connected to the steering wheel; a reaction actuator connected to the steering shaft for adding a reaction force; a rack for steering a steered wheel; a steering actuator provided on the rack; a backup mechanism for connecting the steering shaft and the rack via a clutch, a first detection means or mechanism for detecting the condition of the steering shaft, a second detection means or mechanism for detecting the condition of the rack, and a backup operation monitoring means or mechanism for driving the steering actuator when the power source is energized, the backup operation monitoring means or mechanism selectively monitoring the operation of the backup mechanism based on the value detected by the first detection means or mechanism or the second detection means or mechanism or both.

Vehicle steering apparatus

To reduce the length in an axis direction of a steering unit and consequently to provide a vehicle steering apparatus with superior vehicle mountability, a steering apparatus for a vehicle has a steering unit, a reaction generating unit and a steered unit. The steering unit and the steered unit are mechanically separated. The apparatus includes a clutch that mechanically connects the steering unit and the steered unit, and a backup unit is provided between the clutch and the steered unit and transmits steering torque that is inputted from the steering unit, when the clutch is engaged, to the steered unit. A rotation conversion unit that outputs rotation in a rotation axis direction of the clutch that is different from the axis direction of the steering unit is provided between the reaction generating unit and the clutch.

Steering apparatus for a vehicle

A steering apparatus for a steerable vehicle includes a steering unit, an operating unit, a backup unit, and a control unit. The backup unit selectively connects/disconnects the steering unit and the operating unit. The control unit is operable in two control modes including an SBW mode and a PS mode. In the SBW mode, the control unit separates the steering unit from the operating unit; controls a steer angle of the vehicle in accordance with a manual steering effort; and switches the control mode from the SBW mode to the PS mode when an SBW-to-PS mode switch condition is satisfied, the SBW-to-PS mode switch condition including a condition that the steer angle is larger than or equal to a first threshold angle. In the PS mode, the control unit connects the steering unit and the operating unit; controls an assist steering effort to boost the manual steering effort.

Steering apparatus for steerable vehicle

A vehicle steering apparatus includes a steering input section having at least a steering wheel to which steering input is applied, and a steering output section having at least a steering rack shaft and operatively associated with left and right steered wheels for steering the steered wheels by steering-rack-shaft movement produced by a steering force determined based on the steering input and transmitted directly or indirectly to the steering rack shaft. The steering rack shaft is split into left and right movable rack shaft portions. Also provided is a steer angle converter enabling a differential rack stroke between left and right rack strokes of the left and right movable rack shaft portions. The steer angle converter is constructed by at least one of a variable-pitch dual rack arrangement and a dual taper-pulley arrangement of a cable back-up mechanism.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Tetsuya Osonoi