The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 13, 2005
Filed:
Oct. 27, 2003
Marcus Turner, Green Lane, GB;
Ian Hulme, Leamington Spa, GB;
Marcus Turner, Green Lane, GB;
Ian Hulme, Leamington Spa, GB;
Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US);
Abstract
A steering system () and a method of dampening the forces transmitted to a steering wheel () of a vehicle when a steerable wheel () of the vehicle collides with an obstacle using the steering system (). The method includes steering a vehicle via a steering wheel () operably connected to a steerable wheel (), with the steering wheel () defining an input angle. The method also includes monitoring the rate of change of a steering angle () as defined by the steerable wheel (), with the ratio of the input angle to the steering angle () defining a steering ratio. The method further includes reducing an amount of torque transmitted to the steering wheel () from the steerable wheel () when the rate of change of the steering angle () exceeds a maximum rate by adjusting the steering ratio ().