Road surface condition estimating method

Abstract

A method is provided for estimating a road surface condition by accurately determining whether or not there has been any large input to a tire without increasing the number of sensors. An acceleration sensor is disposed on the tire to detect the vibration of the tire in motion. The positions of leading end point and trailing end point of tire contact patch are estimated from the peak positions appearing in the time-variable waveform of the vibration. At the same time, the contact time, extra-contact time, and revolution time of the tire are calculated from the estimated positions of leading end point and trailing end point. Then using one or more of the calculated data, it is determined whether or not the estimated positions of leading end point and trailing end point are equal to the actual positions of leading end point and trailing end point. And if the result of the leading and trailing position determination is 'incorrect estimation', the estimation of a road surface condition is not performed.