A control system for a vehicle for determining whether a trailer is attached to the vehicle, the system being configured to receive an input of pitch data for the vehicle and to determine from the pitch data whether a trailer is attached to the vehicle.

A method of providing automated control of vehicle speed in a driver assist mode may include receiving an operator selection of the driver assist mode and a target speed, monitoring vehicle speed, and generating a propulsive torque request and a braking torque request based on a difference between the target speed and the vehicle speed. The method may further include, responsive to vehicle speed being in a selected range from zero to about three miles per hour, initiating a low speed correction to automatically provide a variable modification to the propulsive torque request or the braking torque request.

A hybrid vehicle includes: an engine; first and second rotating electric machines; a connection/disconnection mechanism; a power storage device; and a control device. Further, when an acceleration request occurs during EV traveling mode, the control device controls, when determining that a predetermined acceleration smaller than a requested acceleration and corresponding to a vehicle speed cannot be generated by torque output by the second rotating electric machine, the torque output by the second rotating electric machine so as to generate an acceleration less than the predetermined acceleration while controlling the torque by the engine and torque by the first rotating electric machine, and when determining that the predetermined acceleration cannot be generated by the torque output by the second rotating electric machine, controls the torque output by the second rotating electric machine so as to generate the acceleration equal to or greater than the predetermined acceleration.

A method may include distributing target torque to target engine torque of an engine and target motor torque of a motor according to a predetermined control logic according to driver demand torque, comparing torques which determines whether actual torques of the engine and the motor are smaller than the target engine torque and the target motor torque, comparing whether a time period during which a state where a state where the torque of the engine or the motor is insufficient is maintained is a predetermined reference time or more, determining that any one of the engine and the motor is failed, when the time during which a state where the state where the torque of the engine or the motor is insufficient is maintained is the reference time or more, and controlling limp-home which limits the target engine torque of the engine, the target motor torque of the motor, and the regenerative braking amount of the motor.

A method for stopping of a motor vehicle including providing a creep torque via a drive train of the motor vehicle and then increasing, independently of the driver, engine speed of a drive engine of the drive train to increase a drive torque of the drive engine and simultaneously increasing, independently of the driver, a braking torque of a brake system of the motor vehicle to balance the drive torque and the braking torque of the motor wherein the maximum braking torque is as great as the creep torque during a standstill of the motor vehicle. The method then maintains the braking torque and simultaneously reduces the engine speed of the drive engine to point at which the motor vehicle comes to a standstill. In an alternative embodiment the method includes applying, independently of the driver, a braking torque by a brake system of the motor vehicle, wherein the applied braking torque is as great as the creep torque present when the motor vehicle is at a standstill and then maintaining the braking torque and simultaneously reducing the creep torque of the drive train up to a point at which the motor vehicle comes to a standstill.

A motor vehicle driver assistance system including a vehicular data module configured to derive a trailer weight and a vehicular control parameter determiner configured to determine a parameter value of a vehicular control parameter based on the trailer weight derived.

A driving system includes an engine an engine, a motor generator, a gear mechanism, and a controller. The gear mechanism couples the engine and the motor generator to each other. The gear mechanism includes first and second gears. The first and second gears are configured to be supplied with first driving torque from the engine and second driving torque from the motor generator, respectively. The second gear meshes with the first gear. The controller is configured to perform torque control of the engine to make a rate of variation in the first driving torque at the first gear at a time when the following conditional expression (1) is satisfied smaller than that at a time when the following conditional expression (1) is not satisfied.
|T2−T1|<Th1  (1) T1 is the first driving torque, T2 is the second driving torque, and Th1 is a first threshold.

A driving mode control method and apparatus of a hybrid electric vehicle are provided. The driving mode control method includes decreasing a torque of an engine when a first driving mode in which both the engine and a first motor are driven is switched to a second driving mode driven by the first motor and applying a torque of a second motor. A clutch is then opened when a difference between the engine torque and the second motor torque is less than a first threshold torque.

A vehicle includes an engine, a motor selectively coupled to the engine, a transmission selectively coupled to the motor, and a controller. The motor is able to operate as a motor (to provide torque to the transmission) and a generator (to charge a battery). In one mode, the controller can command the engine to both propel the vehicle and provide torque to the motor to charge the battery. The controller estimates the maximum available engine torque in the current gear and maintains the vehicle in the current gear of the transmission. And, the controller commands the motor to charge the battery by a magnitude based on the difference between driver demanded torque and an estimated maximum available engine torque in a current gear of the transmission. This allows the engine to operate at (or near) its maximum torque output to fulfill driver demands and charge the battery while inhibiting downshifting.

The invention concerns a method for automatically controlling a motor vehicle (10) for switching from a “normal” mode to a “freewheel” mode, the vehicle (10) comprising an engine (12) capable of providing engine torque to drive wheels (14) via an automatically controlled clutch device (18) that comprises a drive shaft (15) and a driven shaft (16). A transition step (E1) is interposed chronologically between the “normal” mode and the “freewheel mode” during which the engine (12) is automatically controlled in such a way that the driven shaft (16) and the drive shaft (15) turn at the same speed without transmitting torque to the drive wheels (14).