Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Yasuharu Oyama

Masaru Abe

Masami Ogura

Tsuyoshi Sato

Yoshimi Furukawa

Shoichi Sano

Takashi Nishimori

Yutaka Nishi

Hiroyuki Kawagoe

Toru Yasuda

Kazushige Sugamata

Junko Kurosawa

Yasuji Shibahata

Yoshimichi Kawamoto

Mitsuya Serizawa

Yutaka Arimura

Takamitsu Tajima

Norio Ukai

Takehiko Furuya

Keiichi Murayama

In a steer-by-wire vehicle steering apparatus where a steering operator member is operatively connected to steerable road wheels via an electric wire, a control section controls a steering motor in such a manner that an angle of travel direction of the vehicle and a steering angle of the steering operator agree with each other, and a resistive force generation section generates and imparts a steering resistive force to the steering operator in accordance with an actual steered angle of the steerable road wheels. Thus, the steering apparatus permits the vehicle to be steered with an increased accuracy.

Vehicle steering apparatus

In a steering control system for controlling torque steer in a vehicle equipped with an electric power steering device and a torque split arrangement for individually controlling traction and/or braking force of right and left wheels, a difference in traction and/or braking force between the right and left wheels which may be produced by the torque split arrangement may give rise to torque steer depending on the geometry of the wheel suspension system of the vehicle. The control unit for the electric power steering device additionally receives an additional signal for providing an additional steering torque which is required for canceling the torque steer. Thus, the torque steer can be eliminated both economically and reliably without requiring to modify the wheel suspension system.

Steering control system for controlling torque steer

In a steering system which produces a reactive steering assist torque which tends to cancel any unintended or undesired behavior of the vehicle, the control unit for the steering system is prevented from producing any reactive steering assist torque when the vehicle speed is zero so that no reactive steering assist torque may be produced to the discomfort of the vehicle even when the vehicle is being moved by external causes such as when being turned by a turntable or being transported by a car lift or a car carrier.

Reactive steering control system

In a steering system which produces a reactive steering assist torque which tends to cancel any unintended or undesired behavior of the vehicle, the relationship between the steering angle and the vehicle behavior such as the yaw rate and the lateral acceleration reverses in sense depending on the traveling direction of the vehicle. To prevent the control unit for the steering system from producing any reactive steering assist torque which could worsen the behavior of the vehicle when the vehicle is traveling rearward, the control unit either eliminates or reverses the sense of the reactive steering assist torque when the vehicle is traveling rearward.

An auxiliary driving system is provided to ensure that a vehicle equipped with an automatic transmission can be moved or permitted to travel without use of the driving force of the vehicle engine in the event of an emergency. The main driving wheels are normally driven through an engine and an automatic transmission and a pair of auxiliary driving wheels are driven by motors. In a usual state, the motors are used to generate an auxiliary driving force or a creep force in the vehicle. However, if the vehicle engine is stopped due to engine trouble or failure, the motors can be driven based on the amount of accelerator pedal depressed to rotate the auxiliary driving wheels and thereby permit the vehicle to travel. Thus, movement of the vehicle can be easily accommodated in the event of an emergency such as when the vehicle engine has failed.

Auxiliary vehicle driving system

A camber control system varies the camber of a wheel of a motor vehicle. The camber control system includes a detector for detecting a direction in which front wheels are steered, a controller for producing a control signal in response to a signal produced by the detector, an actuator operable in response to the control signal from the controller, and a rear wheel camber varying mechanism actuatable by the actuator for varying the camber of rear wheels. The controller is arranged such that the control signal produced thereby enables the actuator to operate the rear wheel camber varying mechanism so that the camber of outer and inner rear wheels with respect to a motor vehicle turning direction corresponding to the direction in which the front wheels are steered, is rendered negative and positive, respectively. The rear wheel camber varying mechanism has a wheel supporting member for supporting a rear wheel rotatably thereon, and lower and upper coupling members interconnecting the wheel supporting member and a body of the motor vehicle. The upper coupling member is movable transversely of the motor vehicle body, and the actuator is coupled to a portion of the upper coupling member which is mounted on the motor vehicle body.

Camber control system for motor vehicle

A steering system for the front and rear wheels of an automotive vehicle comprises a front wheel steering mechanism having an output shaft, a rear wheel steering mechanism having an input shaft coupled to the output shaft, an output member for steering the rear wheels, and a motion converting mechanism for converting rotation of the input shaft to movement of the output member, a vehicle speed sensor, and a control unit connected to the vehicle speed sensor for controlling operation of the motion converting mechanism dependent on the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed sensor. The motion converting mechanism comprises a shaft angularly movable by the input shaft, the shaft having an arm extending radially from one end thereof, a guide mounted on the output member and extending in a vertical direction transverse to an axis of the output member, a slide assembly disposed between and interconnecting the arm and the guide, and a drive device controlled by the control unit for moving the slide assembly along the guide. The drive device includes a gear mechanism connected with said slide assembly and a pair of motors coupled to the gear mechanism for driving the same, the pair of motors being driven in association with each other.

Steering system for front and rear wheels of automotive vehicle

A steering system for a motor vehicle includes a centering mechanism for establishing a neutral steering position. The steering system includes a steering wheel and a steering assembly for steering vehicle wheels in response to angular movement of the steering wheel. The centering mechanism is mounted on at least a portion of the steering assembly for establishing the neutral steering position of the steering assembly.

Steering system for motor vehicle

A steering system for the front and rear wheels of an automotive vehicle comprises a front wheel steering mechanism having an output shaft, a rear wheel steering mechanism having an input shaft coupled to the output shaft, an output member for steering the rear wheels, and a motion converting mechanism for converting rotation of the input shaft to movement of the output member, a vehicle speed sensor, and a control unit connected to the vehicle speed sensor for controlling operation of the motion converting mechanism dependent on the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed sensor. The motion converting mechanism comprises a shaft angularly movable by the input shaft, the shaft having an arm extending radially from one end thereof, a guide mounted on the output member and extending in a vertical direction transverse to an axis of the output member, a slide assembly disposed between and interconnecting the arm and the guide, and a drive device controlled by the control unit for moving the slide assembly along the guide.

A steering system for a vehicle having a steering wheel, steerable front wheels and steerable rear wheels. The system comprises a linkage arrangement operatively interconnecting the steering wheel with the front and rear wheels for steering the front and rear wheels in response to operation of the steering wheel. The linkage arrangement includes a mechanical linkage mechanically connected with the steering wheel so as to transmit steering effort. The mechanical linkage is provided with a restoring mechanism for exerting restoring force to said mechanical linkage so as to urge the steering wheel toward a neutral position thereof. Favorable returnability of the steering system is achieved in this arrangement.

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Wako, Japan

Yasuharu Oyama