The invention relates to a strut rod made of composite material for a suspension of a front axle of a vehicle, including: an upper part coupled to a rod and piston assembly connected to a vehicle body; and a U-shaped lower part including two brackets for fixing a knuckle arm of the vehicle. This strut rod includes means for detecting a crack. This detection means includes at least one additional edge positioned so as to project from an outer surface of the U-shaped lower part of the strut rod in a region where a crack possibly occurs in the case of an accidental shock on a wheel of the vehicle.

A system and method for operating a motor vehicle having an active roll control system and an air suspension system including operating the air suspension system in a normal mode, according to a normal air spring setting. Upon determining a fault or malfunction of the active roll control system operating the air suspension in a fallback mode, according to a fallback air spring setting, wherein the fallback mode is different from the normal mode.

A vehicle motion control device includes: an actuator characteristic change estimation unit configured to estimate a characteristic change of an actuator at a future time from a current time; a controllable range estimation unit configured to calculate a controllable range of a vehicle motion from a characteristic change calculated by the actuator characteristic change estimation unit, a target track of a vehicle, and a current vehicle state; a vehicle motion planning unit configured to create a motion plan within a controllable range calculated by the controllable range estimation unit; an evaluation value calculation unit configured to calculate an evaluation value based on a motion plan created by the vehicle motion planning unit; and a determination unit configured to determine whether or not an evaluation value calculated by the evaluation value calculation unit is minimum.

A vehicle comprising a first leaf spring connected to a chassis so as to, while deflecting, allow relative vertical movement between the chassis and a wheel axle and thereby also between the chassis and wheels, and a control circuitry configured to: compare the signal indicative of the actual path followed by the wind-up center with a representation of a reference path that the wind-up center of the first leaf spring should follow when the first leaf spring is well-functioning and deflects as intended; determine whether a difference between the actual path and the reference path is greater than a threshold value; and, in response to the determined difference greater than the threshold, generate an alarm signal indicative of a detected or possibly detected leaf spring failure.

A vehicle height adjustment device includes a changer and a controller. The changer is configured to change a relative position of a body of a vehicle relative to an axle of a wheel of the vehicle. The controller is configured to control the changer to make the relative position a target value so as to control a vehicle height of the body of the vehicle. The controller is configured to control the changer to maintain the relative position irrespective of the target value when a decreasing malfunction occurs causing the vehicle height to decrease.

A vehicle, in particular a rail vehicle, includes a compressed-air-operated toilet device and a compressed air supply system which supplies compressed air to the toilet device during normal operation. The vehicle also includes an emergency compressed air source that is suitable for providing compressed air for continued operation of the toilet device in the event of a failure of the compressed air supply system.

A vehicle height adjustment device includes a changer, a vehicle height controller, and a malfunction detector. The changer is drivable when supplied with a current and configured to change a relative position of a body of a vehicle relative to an axle of a wheel of the vehicle. The vehicle height controller is configured to perform such control that a target current set based on the relative position is supplied to the changer so as to control a vehicle height, which is a height of the body of the vehicle. The malfunction detector is configured to detect a failure to make the target current flow to the changer.

The present subject matter relates to a method for estimating extent of wear of a suspension system in a vehicle using a computing device. The baseline operational parameters of the suspension system are received, and motion parameters of vehicle are detected. Actual operational parameters of the suspension system are estimated based on the detected motion parameters. An alert to indicate the extent of wear of the suspension system is generated based on determining a deviation of the actual operational parameters from the actual operational parameters.

The invention detects at least either one of a supply fault and a ground fault distinctively from a disconnection. A compressor relay 22 is placed between a battery 21 and an air compressor module 5. The compressor relay 22 controls the drive and stop of the air compressor module 5. A compressor driver 26 outputs a drive signal to the compressor relay 22. A ground-side voltage monitor 2S detects the drive voltage of the compressor relay 22. A pressure sensor 17 detects air pressure in a discharge side of the air compressor module 5. A microcomputer 30 of a controller 25 detects a ground fault and a disconnection of the drive signal of the compressor 22 distinctively from each other on the basis of a voltage value Vg detected by the ground-side voltage monitor 28 and a pressure valve P detected by the pressure sensor 17.

The invention relates to a method for providing a manipulated variable for an actuator (4) of an active chassis of a motor vehicle (2), wherein the manipulated variable in the event that a value for a projected variable, which is dependent upon a height profile of the terrain to be travelled by the motor vehicle (2), is available, is configured from a combination of a Skyhook variable, which is dependent upon a movement of a structure of the motor vehicle (2), and the projected variable, and wherein the manipulated variable is configured from a combination of a soft-spring variable, which is dependent upon a wheel-suspension of the motor vehicle (2), and the Skyhook variable, if no value for the projected variable is available.