An emergency operating method for operating an active chassis of a motor vehicle in the event of a failure of a pump of the active chassis. The method includes (a) detecting a termination of a proper electrical supply of an electric drive machine of the pump; (b) short-circuiting the electric drive machine operated at high voltage; and (c) disconnecting the high-voltage supply of the electric drive machine.

A method and apparatus for a suspension comprising a spring having a threaded member at a first end for providing axial movement to the spring as the spring is rotated and the threaded member moves relative to a second component. In one embodiment, the system includes a damper for metering fluid through a piston and a rotatable spring member coaxially disposed around the damper and rotatable relative to the damper.

Disclosed are methods, systems, and non-transitory computer readable memory for dynamic control of suspension systems of vehicles. For instance, a method may include: obtaining a suspension control feature map; determining an initial location of a vehicle; determining a region of the suspension control feature map that corresponds to the initial location of the vehicle; determining a set of suspension control trigger conditions based on the region of the suspension control feature map; determining a current location of the vehicle; determining whether a first suspension control trigger condition of the set of suspension control trigger conditions is satisfied based on the current location; and in response to determining the first suspension control trigger condition is satisfied, instructing an adjustable suspension of the vehicle to transition from a first adjustable suspension setting to a second adjustable suspension setting.

An add-on trailer is provided with a computer control system for automatically or semi-automatically monitoring and controlling the load equalizing function and preferably other functions of the add-on trailer. Display and control software is loaded into a portable computer such as a tablet or personal digital assistant (PDA), with wireless connection to the computer control system in the add-on trailer, such that the computer control system can be operated remotely.

A reaction force adjustment support device includes: a pressure data storage unit storing pressure data of respective spring chambers; a graphic user interface unit displaying a display screen; a reaction force calculator calculating reaction force data by using the pressure data of the respective spring chambers stored in the pressure data storage unit; a graph generating unit generating a graph of reaction force characteristics by using the reaction force data calculated by the reaction force calculator; and a controller displaying a screen for adjusting a reaction force where the screen has an operation portion for adjusting spring pressures provided for the respective spring chambers and a drawing area of the graph on the display screen, and controlling the reaction force calculator and the graph generating unit by user's operation with respect to the operation portion with the pressure data changed for the respective spring chambers to vary the graph.

A method for analyzing and managing a vehicle load carried by a vehicle, the vehicle having a fluid suspension system, the method including sampling, at a manifold of the fluid suspension system, a set of fluid pressures corresponding to a set of fluid springs of the fluid suspension system, wherein the set of fluid springs supports the vehicle load; determining an existing stiffness distribution, the existing stiffness distribution including a stiffness value associated with each of the set of fluid springs; determining a contextual dataset during vehicle operation; determining a desired stiffness distribution based on the contextual dataset; automatically controlling the set of fluid springs at the plurality of actuation points based on the desired stiffness distribution, wherein controlling the set of fluid springs includes setting the stiffness value of the fluid spring associated with each of the plurality of actuation points.

A damping control system for a vehicle having a suspension located between a plurality of ground engaging members and a vehicle frame includes at least one adjustable shock absorber having an adjustable damping characteristic. The system also includes a controller coupled to each adjustable shock absorber to adjust the damping characteristic of each adjustable shock absorber, and a user interface coupled to the controller and accessible to a driver of the vehicle. The user interface includes at least one user input to permit manual adjustment of the damping characteristic of the at least one adjustable shock absorber during operation of the vehicle. Vehicle sensors are also be coupled to the controller to adjust the damping characteristic of the at least one adjustable shock absorber based vehicle conditions determined by sensor output signals.

A damping control system for a vehicle having a suspension located between a plurality of ground engaging members and a vehicle frame includes at least one adjustable shock absorber having an adjustable damping profile.

A system for dynamically managing individual suspension settings for a vehicle based on a determined suspension mode is provided. Based on the user input and obtained sensor input, the system can then determine a suspension mode for a plurality of individually controllable components by specifying values or commands for each controllable component. A first mode may correspond to a lowering of the plurality of controllable. A second mode may correspond to lowering two controllable components corresponding to the rear wheels of the vehicle and raising two controllable components corresponding to front wheels of the vehicle. A third mode may correspond to a lowering of the plurality of controllable components to effectively drop the height of the vehicle to a threshold point. The system may further implement various validation processes that can validate the determined suspension mode and make further adjustment to individual controllable portions based on load or ground measurements.

A method and apparatus are disclosed that assist a user in performing proper setup of a vehicle suspension. A user may utilize a device equipped with an image sensor to assist the user in proper setup of a vehicle suspension. The device executes an application that prompts the user for input and instructs the user to perform a number of steps for adjusting the suspension components. In one embodiment, the application does not communicate with sensors on the vehicle. In another embodiment, the application may communicate with various sensors located on the vehicle to provide feedback to the device during the setup routine. In one embodiment, the device may analyze a digital image of a suspension component to provide feedback about a physical characteristic of the component.