A damping force of a suspension is controlled appropriately in accordance with a road surface condition. An ECU (600) includes: a road surface determining section (84) configured to determine a road surface condition; and a rolling attitude control section (682) configured to calculate a steering-based desired control variable, which is a candidate for a control variable for controlling a damping force of a suspension, in accordance with a result of the determination by the road surface determining section (84).

Methods and systems are provided for diagnosing a shock absorber coupled to a vehicle tire. In one example, a sensor of a tire pressure measurement system coupled inside a tire is used to measure a tire pressure as well as an oscillatory behavior of the tire. A state of health of a shock absorber coupled to the tire is estimated based on the oscillatory behavior.

Suspension systems for recreational vehicles are disclosed. The suspension systems may include at least one adjustable member coupling a sway bar to respective suspensions. The suspension systems may include a torque actuator associated with a sway bar.

A vehicle stabilizer system, including: a stabilizer device and a switching mechanism to switch a roll suppressing function by a stabilizer bar between an effective state in which the roll suppressing function is rendered effective and an ineffective state in which the roll suppressing function is rendered ineffective; and a controller configured to determine whether a lateral acceleration of a vehicle body is greater than a threshold lateral acceleration and control the switching mechanism to render the roll suppressing function effective when the lateral acceleration is greater than the threshold lateral acceleration and ineffective when the lateral acceleration is not greater than the threshold lateral acceleration, wherein the controller employs, as a determination lateral acceleration for determining whether the lateral acceleration is greater than the threshold lateral acceleration, a smaller one of an actual lateral acceleration and an estimated lateral acceleration estimated based on a turning degree of the vehicle.

A multi-mode air shock is disclosed herein. The air shock includes an air spring having a primary air chamber, and a damper having an insertion end to telescope within the primary air chamber and a coupler to couple with a portion of a vehicle. An adjuster housing is fixedly coupled to an end of the air spring opposite of the damper, the adjuster housing having a secondary air chamber in communication with the primary air chamber and a mounting structure to couple with a different portion of the vehicle. There is a bulkhead with a valve to open or close the fluid communication between the primary air chamber and the secondary air chamber. The air shock also includes a tertiary air chamber in fluid communication with the secondary air chamber but not in fluid communication with the primary air chamber except via the secondary air chamber.

A method for controlling a suspension system for a vehicle to obtain optimal parameters for the damping coefficients of the vehicle suspension that minimize acceleration along a heave axis, angular acceleration around a roll axis and angular acceleration around a pitch axis is provided. These parameters may be recorded during the tuning phase or may also be continuously obtained during use of the vehicle by an end user. Also disclosed is a suspension system for a vehicle configured to advantageously operate according to the method.

A vehicle control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present technology includes a control unit. The control unit generates a control signal for controlling behavior of a vehicle body on a basis of a first acceleration detection signal and a second acceleration detection signal, the first acceleration detection signal including information relating to an acceleration acting on the vehicle body, the first acceleration detection signal having an alternating current waveform corresponding to the acceleration, the second acceleration detection signal including information relating to the acceleration, the second acceleration detection signal having an output waveform, an alternating current component corresponding to the acceleration being superimposed on a direct current component in the output waveform.

A vehicle monitoring system for turning off an idling engine comprises a vehicle speed sensor configured to detect a lack of motion, or stationary status of a vehicle and emit a parameter correlated to the motion status of the vehicle, a transmission status detector configured to detect a transmission status of the vehicle, an alerting device capable of warning other drivers of a stationary status of the vehicle and a control device. The control device is coupled to the vehicle speed sensor, the transmission status detector and the alerting device, wherein the vehicle speed sensor and the transmission status detector send a signal to the control device and the control device operates in a manner dependent on the motion status of the vehicle and the transmission status of the vehicle.

A method for operating a motor vehicle with a chassis arrangement having at least two vibration dampers. A body control is carried out at least partially with the vibration dampers. The chassis arrangement further has at least one stabilizer. During transverse accelerations below a threshold acceleration the stabilizer contributes to the body control less than the vibration dampers and contributes more than the vibration dampers from the threshold acceleration upward.

A vehicle stability control device has: a front active stabilizer installed on a front wheel side; a rear active stabilizer installed on a rear wheel side; a turning device for turning the front and rear wheels; and a control device configured to perform load distribution control in conjunction with turning control that actuates the turning device, when a difference in braking force between left and right sides of the vehicle exceeds a threshold value during braking. A first side is one of the left and right sides with a greater braking force, and a second side is the other of the left and right sides. In the load distribution control, the control device actuates the rear active stabilizer in a direction to lift up the first side and actuates the front active stabilizer in a direction to lift up the second side.