A vehicle control apparatus is mounted on a vehicle including an emergency stop function to detect an abnormal state of a driver and automatically stop the vehicle. The vehicle control apparatus provides control at a time of stopping the vehicle and includes process execution sections and a process stop section. The process execution sections perform predetermined emergency processes in response to the emergency stop function stopping the vehicle; the emergency processes control instruments mounted on the vehicle and use a battery of the vehicle as a driving power source. The process stop section stepwise stops at least part of the emergency processes performed by the process execution sections based on a predetermined stop sequence.

A vehicle includes a first sensor, a second sensor, an engine, a fuel supplying device, and a control device. The control device includes a first sensor detecting unit, a second sensor detecting unit, a vehicle status detecting unit, and a control unit. The control unit is switchable among a regular state, a start-stop enabling state, and an idling-stop state. The control unit switches into the start-stop enabling state from the regular state once the control unit determines that the first sensor and the second sensor are both triggered. The control unit further switches into the idling-stop state and controls the fuel supplying device to stop supplying fuel once the control unit determines that the vehicle status meets an idling-stop condition.

An internal combustion engine includes a control unit determining the occurrence or non-occurrence of dew condensation in a tip portion of a nozzle based on a nozzle heat receiving amount of an injector and a nozzle tip temperature of the injector at a point in time when ignition is turned OFF and performing nozzle corrosion prevention control when the dew condensation is determined to occur in the nozzle tip portion. The control unit calculates a nozzle tip temperature reduction rate based on the nozzle heat receiving amount, calculates a dew point arrival time based on the reduction rate, and determines the occurrence or non-occurrence of the dew condensation in the nozzle tip portion based on the dew point arrival time.

A control apparatus for a vehicle includes: an inter-vehicle distance control unit that performs an inter-vehicle distance control with respect to a preceding vehicle; an engine stop-start unit that stops the engine when an engine stop condition is satisfied and starts the engine when an engine start condition is satisfied; a vehicle stop state maintenance unit that maintains a braking force for stopping the vehicle; the engine stop-start unit stops the engine, by activation of the vehicle stop state maintenance unit in the case where the vehicle is stopped by the inter-vehicle distance control unit; and an engine operation control unit that, in the case where the inter-vehicle distance control unit is set to be active in the vehicle stop state, maintains the operation state of the engine before the inter-vehicle distance control unit is set to be active.

A vehicle which can improve fuel consumption without a driver feeling uncomfortable is provided. The vehicle includes: a hydraulic pressure sensor for acquiring a brake torque value which increases in accordance with a stepping-in amount of a brake pedal by the driver, and an ECU which automatically stops an engine after a basic time has elapsed since a basic condition is satisfied and then automatically restarts the engine. The ECU automatically stops the engine before the basic time elapses, when an increment of the brake torque value from a reference value after the basic condition is satisfied is equal to or greater than an additional stepping judgment value, and a shortened time shorter than the basic time has elapsed.

A method of oxygen sensor heater control includes: exhausting an exhaust gas by operating an internal combustion engine; and stopping operation of the engine such that the exhaust gas is not discharged. The stopping operation of the engine includes heating a sensor element by operating a heater that is positioned adjacent to the sensor element, and the sensor element is configured to detect a characteristic of the exhaust gas.

Methods and systems are provided for managing fuel vapor in a vehicle evaporative emissions system configured with a fuel vapor canister for capturing and storing vapors from a vehicle fuel tank. In one example, a three-way valve is positioned between the fuel vapor canister and atmosphere, and may function during engine-off conditions to direct fuel tank vapors through the fuel vapor canister where they may be adsorbed, and then to an intake manifold of the engine where a second adsorbent for capturing and storing fuel vapors is positioned. In this way, fuel vapors that are not adsorbed by the fuel vapor canister, or fuel vapors that are freed from the canister during engine-off conditions may be routed to the second adsorbent prior to exiting to atmosphere, thus reducing undesired bleed emissions.

Disclosed is a method for synchronizing an internal combustion engine including at least one camshaft, on which a target is mounted, a position sensor for sensing the position of the camshaft and a processing unit, the method transmitting a synchronization or synchronization fault signal as a function of the determined direction of rotation of the target.

A system includes an exhaust aftertreatment system in exhaust gas receiving communication with an engine including a plurality of cylinders where the engine is structured to operate according to low load conditions and where a controller is structured to determine that at least one diesel emissions fluid (DEF) doser is frozen based on at least one of an ambient air temperature and a DEF source temperature. The controller is structured to operate the engine according to a skip-fire mode in response to a DEF flag indicating that the at least one DEF doser is frozen. The skip-fire mode comprises firing a portion of the plurality of cylinders that is less than a total amount of cylinders of the plurality of cylinders. The controller is structured to discontinue the skip-fire mode in response to determining that the at least one DEF doser is likely thawed.

A control device selectively executes first and second energization control for controlling an energization amount to the heater. The first energization control is executed to keep temperature of a sensor element within an active temperature region. The first energization control is PWM control in which the energization amount is controlled with closed loop control such that an impedance of the sensor element matches a target value. The second energization control is PWM control in which the energization amount is controlled with open loop control so as to keep the temperature of the sensor element within a preset temperature region that is lower than the active temperature region. The control device executes the second energization control during an internal combustion engine is stopped while executing the first energization control during the internal combustion engine is not stopped.