A vehicle failure-factor specifying apparatus includes (a) a peculiarity-presence determining portion configured to determine, based on a pre-failure driving state in a stage prior to occurrence of a certain failure in a vehicle, whether a peculiarity was present or absent in the pre-failure driving state, and (b) a failure-causing-driving state specifying portion configured, when the peculiarity was present in the pre-failure driving state, to determine whether the peculiarity present in the pre-failure driving state of the vehicle is substantially identical with a peculiarity in the pre-failure driving state of other vehicles. The peculiarity-presence determining portion determines whether the peculiarity was present or absent in the pre-failure driving state of the vehicle, depending on whether a frequency distribution of the pre-failure driving state of the vehicle is deviated from a frequency distribution of a non-failure driving state of a plurality of vehicles including the other vehicles in a non-failure case.

An ECU has a temperature detection unit that detects an actual temperature of the ECU, a temperature estimation unit that calculates an estimated temperature of the ECU, an abnormality determination unit for determining a presence or absence of a sign of abnormality, and a switching prohibition unit that prohibits the shift range switching in a predetermined case. The switching prohibition unit prohibits the shift range switching when there is no sign of abnormality in the temperature detection unit and the actual temperature is equal to or higher than a switching prohibition threshold, and prohibits the shift range switching when there is a sign of abnormality in the temperature detection unit and the estimated temperature is equal to or higher than a switching prohibition threshold. The temperature estimation unit calculates the estimated temperature based on a latest actual temperature in a normal period.

A hydraulic system for an automatic transmission of a motor vehicle, including a high pressure circuit in which a pressure accumulator, at least one clutch and a gear selector are connected, and comprising a low pressure circuit for cooling the clutch, wherein the high pressure circuit and the low pressure circuit have at least one hydraulic pump that can be driven by an electric motor, and including a control unit that actuates the electric motor of the hydraulic pump when a pressure accumulator charging requirement is detected, wherein the high and low pressure circuits are connected via a bypass line to an integrated accumulator charging valve.

A shift range device switches a shift position. The shift range device includes a motor and an energizing unit. The motor functions as a power source for switching the shift position. The energizing unit energizes the motor. The shift range device monitors an abnormal state in which a magnetic field that causes a rotation of a rotor of the motor not to start or a holding magnetic field that stops the rotation generated in the rotor is incapable to be acquired.

A load drive system, capable of providing certainty about instructions transmitted from a load control device to a load drive device as well as suppressing an increase of processing load, includes an ECU, a drive device, a communication bus to which the ECU and the drive device are connected, and a third signal line different from the communication bus connecting the ECU and the drive device. The ECU generates a frame including a drive instruction message, and transmits the message to the drive device via the communication bus. The drive device receives the frame via the communication bus, and extracts the drive instruction message from data of data field in the received frame. The drive device converts the drive instruction message into a load drive signal, and notifies the converted load drive signal to the ECU via the third signal line.

A hydraulic system for an automatic transmission of a motor vehicle. A high-pressure circuit, in which a pressure accumulator, at least one clutch, and gear selectors and a hydraulic pump, which can be operated by an electronic control unit and by which the accumulator pressure in the high-pressure circuit can be increased in charging operation. A clutch valve that can be operated by the control unit is arranged in a clutch path between the pressure accumulator and a clutch hydraulic cylinder of the clutch, using which clutch valve a hydraulic pressure applied to the clutch hydraulic cylinder can be adjusted, and a safety valve that can be operated by the control unit is arranged upstream of the clutch valve.

A hydraulic work machine is provided in which left and right hydraulic motors are driven independently of each other by two hydraulic pumps and in which an anomaly of any of the left and right track devices can be detected with high accuracy. The hydraulic work machine includes a first pressure sensor 13 configured to detect a first pump pressure that is a delivery pressure of a first hydraulic pump 11 and a second pressure sensor 23 configured to detect a second pump pressure that is a delivery pressure of a second hydraulic pump 21. When a controller 2 decides, from detection results of a travel operation detector 5 and work operation detectors 3 and 4, that a work implement 103 is not operated but travel operation devices 6 and 7 are operated and besides left and right track devices 50 and 60 are straightly traveling, the controller 2 calculates an anomaly decision evaluation value based on a pressure difference value obtained by subtracting one from the other of the first pump pressure and the second pump pressure and decides, based on a result of comparison between the anomaly decision evaluation value and a predetermined decision reference value 84, that one of the left and right track devices has an anomaly.

A rotational angle sensor detects the rotational position of a motor and outputs a motor rotational angle signal corresponding to the rotational position of the motor. An output shaft sensor detects a change in the magnetic field of a target that rotates integrally with an output shaft to which the rotation of the motor is transmitted, and outputs an output shaft signal according to the rotational position of the output shaft. A shift range control unit includes a motor control unit.

A vehicle control device controls a vehicle control system, which includes a shift range switching system configured to switch a shift range by controlling a drive of a shift actuator, and an electric brake system configured to brake a vehicle by controlling a drive of a brake actuator. The vehicle control device includes a drive control unit, an abnormality monitoring unit, and a presence determination unit. The drive control unit controls a drive of a shift actuator. The abnormality monitoring unit monitors an abnormality of the shift range switching system. The presence determination unit determines whether the driver is in the driver's seat. When the abnormality of the range mismatch, which the actual shift range does not match the target shift range in a state where the driver is absent, the vehicle control device executes the fail safe process different from the fail safe process when the driver is present.

A shift range control device includes a signal receiver, an abnormality monitor, and a drive controller. The signal receiver acquires an encoder signal from an encoder capable of outputting three or more phase encoder signals having different phases. The abnormality monitor monitors an abnormality of the encoder. The drive controller controls drive of a motor by switching an energized phase of a motor winding so that a rotation position of the motor becomes a target rotation position according to a target shift range. When the abnormality of the encoder is detected, the driver controller drives the motor by faulty phase identification control to identify a faulty phase that is a phase in which an abnormality of the encoder signal occurs, and a normal phase in which the encoder signal is normal.