Mazda Motor Corporation

Yasumasa Imamura

Daisuke Umetsu

Naoki Nobutani

Yasushi Yagi

Akihiro Tatara

Daisuke Kofu

Tetsushi Marutani

Juntaro Matsuo

Keisuke Haruta

Osamu Sunahara

Naoki Takata

Junichi Kubo

Hideki Tani

Kohei Okada

Yoichi Fujioka

A hybrid vehicle system is configured to be capable of switching among four or more of a plurality of traveling modes including a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) mode and an electric vehicle (EV) mode, and includes one toggle switch for selecting any one of the plurality of traveling modes and a controller. The controller selects the plurality of traveling modes in sequence whenever the toggle switch accepts each of operations to a first direction and a second direction. The HEV mode is set to be changed to different traveling modes between when the toggle switch accepts one or a plurality of operations to the first direction and when the toggle switch accepts an operation to the second direction, and the HEV mode and the EV mode are set to be continuous in an order of selection by the controller.

Hybrid vehicle system

A travel mode switching device for a vehicle is provided, which is switchable between a plurality of travel modes including a sport travel mode and a towing travel mode. The device includes a travel mode selection interface that allows a driver to select one of the travel modes, a towing detection sensor that detects a towing state, and a processor configured to execute a travel mode switching module to switch the travel mode to the travel mode selected by the travel mode selection interface, and a travel mode regulating module to regulate the selection of the sport travel mode by the travel mode selection interface when the towing state is detected by the towing detection sensor, and regulate the selection of the towing travel mode by the travel mode selection interface when the towing state is not detected.

Travel mode switching device for vehicle and display unit of the same

A control system for a vehicle is provided, which includes an accelerator pedal and a steering wheel configured to be operated by a driver, an accelerator opening sensor configured to detect an accelerator opening corresponding to operation of the accelerator pedal, a steering angle sensor configured to detect a steering angle corresponding to operation of the steering wheel, and a controller configured to set an additional deceleration to be applied to the vehicle in order to control a posture of the vehicle based on the detected steering angle, when the steering wheel is turned, and apply the additional deceleration to the vehicle. The controller sets the additional deceleration based on the detected accelerator opening, in addition to the steering angle, and sets the additional deceleration larger while the vehicle is towing than while the vehicle is not towing, when the additional decelerations are compared at the same accelerator opening.

Control system for vehicle

A vehicle system includes an engine driving a vehicle, a front wheel and a rear wheel, a suspension device with an attachment portion to a vehicle body which is located at a higher level than a center axis of the rear wheel, an electromagnetic coupling to distribute a torque of the engine to the front wheel and the rear wheel, a steering wheel to be operated by a driver, a steering angle sensor to detect a steering angle corresponding to operation of the steering wheel, and a controller to control the engine and the electromagnetic coupling. The controller is configured to control the electromagnetic coupling such that the torque distributed to the rear wheel is decreased in accordance with a returning operation of the steering wheel which is detected by the steering angle sensor.

Vehicle system

A driving force control devicefor a vehicle V comprises: a D-&#x3bc; map Mdefining a linear correlation between a driving stiffness D and a maximum road surface &#x3bc;; a slip ratio calculation circuitfor calculating a slip ratio S of one of a pair of front road wheelsL,R; a DS calculation circuitfor calculating the driving stiffness D corresponding to a value the slip ratio S calculated by the slip ratio calculation circuit; a maximum road surface &#x3bc; calculation circuitfor assigning a value of the driving stiffness D calculated by the DS calculation circuitto the D-&#x3bc; map Mto calculate the maximum road surface &#x3bc;; and a driving force distribution circuitfor controlling a driving force, using a value of the maximum road surface &#x3bc; calculated by the maximum road surface &#x3bc; calculation circuit

Driving force control method and system for vehicle

A vehicle system comprises an engine driving a vehicle, a front wheel and a rear wheel, a suspension device with an attachment portion to a vehicle body which is located at a higher level than a center axis of the rear wheel, an electromagnetic coupling to distribute a torque of the engine to the front wheel and the rear wheel, a steering wheel to be operated by a driver, a steering angle sensor to detect a steering angle corresponding to operation of the steering wheel, and a controller to control the engine and the electromagnetic coupling. The controller is configured to control the electromagnetic coupling such that the torque distributed to the rear wheel is increased in accordance with turning operation of the steering wheel which is detected by the steering angle sensor.

A driving force distribution control device mounted on a four-wheel drive vehicle is provided. A coupling mechanism controller connects a drive shaft with an auxiliary driving wheel and sets a fastening force as a first fastening force, when an increase rate in an accelerator opening becomes more than a given value and a vehicle speed is below a given first speed, and changes the fastening force from the first fastening force to a second fastening force, when a slip of at least one of main driving wheels is detected after the fastening force is set to the first fastening force, and before a given time period has lapsed from the setting of the fastening force, or before the vehicle speed becomes faster than a given second speed. The second fastening force at least immediately after the change of the fastening force is a value larger than the first fastening force.

Driving force distribution control device

A driving force distribution control system for a four-wheel drive vehicle is provided. The four-wheel drive vehicle uses front wheels as main driving wheels, and when a towed vehicle is coupled to a coupling part provided to a rear part of the four-wheel drive vehicle, the towed vehicle has the center of gravity position so that a downward load in a vehicle up-and-down direction is applied to the rear part of the vehicle through the coupling part. A driving force distribution control device includes a towing determination module configured to determine whether the vehicle is towing the towed vehicle, and when it is determined that the vehicle is towing the towed vehicle, a driving force distribution control device controls the driving force distributing device so that the driving force distributing amount to rear wheels becomes larger than that when the four-wheel drive vehicle is not towing the towed vehicle.

Driving force distribution control system for vehicle

A method of controlling driving force of a vehicle includes estimating a first maximum road surface frictional coefficient based on a driving stiffness defined by a micro slip ratio and driving force of drive wheels, in a first driving state where the vehicle travels straight at a constant acceleration, estimating a second maximum road surface frictional coefficient based on a steering reaction force detected by an electric power steering device, in a second driving state different from the first state and where the vehicle is steered, estimating a third maximum road surface frictional coefficient to be a given value in a third driving state different from the first and second states and where an outdoor air temperature is above a determination temperature, and controlling the driving force to settle within a friction circle defined by each of the highest frictional coefficients and a ground contact load of the drive wheels.

Method of controlling driving force of vehicle

A wheel load estimation method of a four-wheel drive vehicle driven by a rotational driving device comprises a correlation relationship setting step for previously setting a correlation relationship between a total weight and at least one of the front wheel load and the rear wheel load by variously changing a movable load of the vehicle, a total vehicle weight computation step for calculating a current total vehicle weight from an output torque of the rotational driving device and a longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle corresponding to the output torque, and a wheel load estimation step for estimating the wheel load of at least a driving wheel from the correlation relationship and the total vehicle weight.

Wheel load estimation method for four-wheel drive vehicle

The vehicle driving force control device comprises: a behavior control mechanism for reducing a driving force of an engine according to a steering speed; a driving force distribution mechanism for distributing the driving force of the engine to rear road wheels; and an ECU for controlling the mechanisms. The behavior control mechanism reduces the driving force by a target torque reduction amount set based on the steering speed, to thereby generate a deceleration, and the driving force distribution mechanism distributes the driving force to the front road wheels and the rear road wheels based on a distribution rate set for the rear road wheels depending on a traveling state, and the ECU corrects the distribution rate based on the target torque reduction amount during cornering of the vehicle.

Vehicle driving force control device

A method of controlling a driving force of a four-wheel drive vehicle includes causing a control unit to acquire a vehicle speed, a lateral acceleration, a driving force of a wheel, a road surface friction coefficient, and a ground contact load of the wheel when the vehicle is traveling, determine whether a road surface is rough based on the acquired road surface condition, correct, when the road surface is determined to be rough, the load of the wheel, by applying thereto a load change rate set according to the roughness, predict a slip occurrence of the wheel by comparing a product of the corrected load and the road surface friction coefficient to a total force of the driving force and a lateral force caused by a lateral acceleration in cornering, and reduce, when the slip occurrence is predicted, the driving force so as to prevent the slip occurrence.

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Hiroshima, Japan

Yasumasa Imamura