A brake control apparatus for a vehicle performs hill hold control to activate a brake apparatus, without requiring any braking operation of a driver, to thereby prevent the vehicle from moving backward on an uphill, when the uphill on which the vehicle has stopped has an inclination greater than a brake activation threshold. The apparatus detects a structure around the vehicle. In addition, the apparatus changes an execution condition of the hill hold control such that when the structure is detected around the vehicle, the hill hold control is more easily to be started to be performed as compared with a case where the structure is not detected.

An eco-friendly vehicle and a hill descent control method therefor are provided to enable stable driving on a downhill road. The method includes detecting a downhill road inclination based on a request for hill descent control and determining an average inclination and an inclination variation width based on the recognized downhill road inclination. First braking force of a main braking source from a motor and a hydraulic pressure brake system based on the average inclination and the inclination variation width, and second braking force of an auxiliary braking source from the motor and the hydraulic pressure brake system for each driving wheel based on a target speed set with respect to the hill descent control and a speed of each driving wheel are determined. The first and second braking force are output by a corresponding braking source from the motor and the hydraulic pressure brake system.

Provided are a vehicle body behavior control device which can reduce unstable behavior of a vehicle body and a method of controlling behavior of a vehicle body which can reduce unstable behavior of the vehicle body. A vehicle body behavior control device incorporated into a vehicle body having a plurality of wheels includes: a behavior control mechanism which controls behavior of the vehicle body; and a control part which controls an operation of the behavior control mechanism based on an axle load applied to the wheel calculated using a gradient value of a road surface.

A method for controlling a differential braking arrangement of a vehicle, said vehicle comprising at least one auxiliary braking arrangement and at least one differential braking arrangement, said auxiliary braking arrangement and said differential braking arrangement being connected to a pair of propelled wheels of said vehicle, wherein the differential braking arrangement is arranged to control a relative rotational speed between the pair of propelled wheels, wherein the method comprises the steps of receiving a signal indicative of a downhill slope for a road ahead of said vehicle; determining an inclination of said downhill slope; determining a braking power needed for the at least one auxiliary braking arrangement for preventing the vehicle speed of the vehicle from exceeding a predetermined speed limit when driving at the downhill slope; and engaging the at least one differential braking arrangement for reducing the relative rotational speed between the propelled wheels if the determined braking power of the at least one auxiliary braking arrangement is higher than a predetermined threshold.

A controller can be configured to receive an indication of a measured speed of a vehicle, and determine whether a gradient on which the vehicle is located is below a threshold gradient. The controller can also be configured to provide an output signal to cause a brake of the vehicle to be automatically applied to hold the vehicle stationary, based at least in part on: the received indication of the measured speed of the vehicle being below a threshold speed; and the determination that the gradient is below the threshold gradient.

When an engine speed is less than a safeguard speed while a vehicle downhill assist control is being executed, a target speed of the vehicle downhill assist control is increased. In addition, if the target speed is greater than a vehicle speed, braking force applied to the vehicle is decreased.

A four wheel steering vehicle (1), in which front wheels (2f) and rear wheels (2r) can be steered in response to a steering input from a steering wheel (11), includes a rear wheel steering control unit (50) that variably controls a rear wheel steering device such that the rear wheels are steered in a prescribed relation to a steered angle of the front wheels. When the steering input is determined while the front wheel brake and the rear wheel brake are engaged, the rear wheel steering control unit disengages the rear wheel brake and steers the rear wheels. When the fore and aft inclination angle detected by an inclination sensor (40) provided on the vehicle is greater than a threshold value, the rear wheel steering control unit prohibits a steering of the rear wheels and keeps the rear wheel brake engaged even if the steering input is determined.

A device and a method for controlling vehicle speed in a vehicle equipped with brake cruise control when the vehicle is travelling downhill are provided. The method involves driving a vehicle downhill with the brake set speed set to a first brake set speed; detecting a current vehicle speed; automatically applying a brake torque using at least an auxiliary brake to maintain the first brake set speed; and detecting a manual application of a vehicle service brake, in order to decrease vehicle speed. If a control unit detects that the driver is applying the service brake, then the control unit is automatically arranged to set the brake set speed to a second brake set speed that is lower than the first brake set speed; and to apply a brake torque using at least the auxiliary brake if a detected current vehicle speed exceeds the second brake set speed.

A cruise control arrangement is provided with a cruise control speed function and where the cruise control arrangement is provided with a set cruise speed value and a set brake cruise speed value, and where the cruise control brake function is active when the vehicle travels downhill, where the cruise control arrangement is adapted to activate at least one auxiliary brake when the vehicle speed reaches the set brake cruise speed, to apply a service brake of the vehicle in order to reduce the speed of the vehicle to a predefined first speed if the vehicle speed exceeds the set brake cruise speed when the least one auxiliary brake is delivering full brake power, where the predefined first speed is lower than the set brake cruise speed. Undesired acceleration during downhill travel can be avoided when the brake power of the auxiliary brake is not sufficient. Further, a required downshift can be delayed, which will improve the fuel consumption of the vehicle.

A method for detecting a movement of a vehicle that has been shut down in a parked state, including: detecting a movement variable which describes a movement of the vehicle, integrating the movement variable, in a manner dependent on a movement direction of the vehicle, to obtain a movement travel, and, if the movement travel meets a predetermined condition, making a decision on the movement for detection.