Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Xiaodi Kang

James W Post, Ii

David A Thompson

Christopher J Cymbal

Theodore Klaus

William Monsma

James W Post

A method for operating steerable rear wheels of a vehicle includes detecting a rear wheel steering angle of at least one of the steerable rear wheels, and detecting a first vehicular condition. The method further includes determining a weighted rear steering angle value based at least in part upon the rear wheel steering angle and the first vehicular condition, and controlling the steerable rear wheels in response to the weighted rear steering angle value.

Four-wheel steered vehicle and torque distribution control methods for same

Methods for controlling a vehicle are provided. The vehicle includes a pair of steerable front wheels and a pair of steerable rear wheels. A steering angle of at least one of the steerable rear wheels is detected. A feed-forward lateral acceleration value is determined based upon the detected steering angle and a scaling factor. Operation of the steerable front wheels and the steerable rear wheels is controlled in response to the feed-forward lateral acceleration value.

Methods of controlling four-wheel steered vehicles

A feed forward method for controlling the distribution of torque between the front and rear axle in a four wheel drive vehicle where the slope of a hill upon which the vehicle is traveling is calculated based on measured vehicle longitudinal acceleration and estimated longitudinal acceleration. The hill slope estimation is made and implemented before the wheels of the vehicle begin to slip due to the slope and low friction coefficient of the road surface. Under conditions of high vehicle speeds or severe vehicle turning, the change of torque distribution is not implemented because there is a lesser tendency for the vehicle to slip on the hill surface.

Detection of hill grade and feed-forward distribution of 4WD torque bias to improve traction on a low MU surfaces during climbing of such hill grade

Improved methods of controlling the stability of a vehicle are provided via the cooperative operation of vehicle stability control systems such as an Active Yaw Control system, Antilock Braking System, and Traction Control System. These methods use recognition of road surface information including the road friction coefficient (mu), wheel slippage, and yaw deviations. The methods then modify the settings of the active damping system and/or the distribution of drive torque, as necessary, to increase/reduce damping in the suspension and shift torque application at the wheels, thus preventing a significant shift of load in the vehicle and/or improving vehicle drivability and comfort. The adjustments of the active damping system or torque distribution temporarily override any characteristics that were pre-selected by the driver.

Vehicle systems control for improving stability

A method and system for performing the method of controlling vehicle braking where the wheel slip of individual vehicle wheels is calculated and the load upon individual vehicle wheels is determined. A first brake line correction factor is calculated based on the determined loads upon the vehicle wheels. A second brake line correction factor is calculated based on the calculated wheel slip and the first and second load brake line correction factors are used to modulate a pressure supplied to individual wheel calipers during braking of the vehicle.

Growing community of inventors

Dublin, OH, United States of America

Xiaodi Kang