A control method for a vehicle has: a step of determining whether a turning operation of a steering system including a steering wheel 6 and the like is performed on the basis of a steering angle that is detected by a steering angle sensor 8; a step of causing a motor generator 4 to generate regenerative power and adding deceleration to a vehicle 1 so as to control a vehicle posture when it is determined that the turning operation of the steering system is performed; and a step of increasing the deceleration, which is added to the vehicle 1 in order to control the vehicle posture, to be higher when the deceleration generated on the vehicle 1 has a first value than when the deceleration generated on the vehicle 1 has a second value that is lower than the first value.

A method for terminating driving on the road shoulder by a transportation vehicle includes detection by a detection unit that the transportation vehicle is situated at least partially on a road shoulder, determination of a steering intensity of a manual steering maneuver, and assignment of one of at least two predetermined steering codes to the steering maneuver by a computing unit as a function of the steering intensity. An automatic intervention into a transportation vehicle control is carried out as a function of the assigned steering code.

There is provided a vehicle behavior control device capable of improving responsivity of a vehicle behavior and a linear feeling with respect to a steering wheel operation without causing a driver to experience a strong feeling of intervention of the control and, at the same time, capable of controlling behavior of a vehicle in such a manner as to also improve stability of the vehicle attitude and riding comfort. In a vehicle behavior control device applied to a vehicle 1 having steerable front road wheels 2, the vehicle behavior control device includes a PCM 14 which acquires a steering speed of the vehicle, and increases a vertical load on the front road wheels when the steering speed becomes equal to or greater than a given threshold T.sub.S1 which is greater than zero.

A system and method for detecting a hands-off state of a steering wheel may include acquiring, by a controller, a steering torque, a steering angle and a steering angular speed while driving of a vehicle, determining, by the controller, a variance value of the steering angular speed through cumulation for a designated time, determining, by the controller, a difference value between a steering angular speed estimated through a steering system model determined on an assumption that the steering wheel is in the hands-off state and a measured steering angular speed through cumulation for a designated time, when the variance value of the steering angular speed is less than a first threshold value, and divisionally determining, by the controller, whether or not the steering wheel is in the hands-off state or in the hands-on state according to the difference value between the measured and estimated steering angular speeds.

A vehicle control system comprises: an engine (4); an accelerator position sensor (10) configured to detect the position of an accelerator pedal; a steering device; a PCM (14) configured to generate a deceleration in the vehicle to control the attitude of the vehicle, when a steering angle-related value as a parameter related to a steering angle of the steering device increases; and a brake unit (16) configured to generate a deceleration in the vehicle, independently of reduction of an output torque of the engine, wherein the PCM is configured to generates the deceleration by means of the reduction of the output torque of the engine when a depression of the accelerator pedal is detected by the accelerator position sensor, and to generate the deceleration by the brake unit (16) when the depression of the accelerator pedal is not detected by the accelerator position sensor.

There is provided a vehicle behavior control device capable of improving responsivity of a vehicle behavior and a linear feeling with respect to a steering wheel operation without causing a driver to experience a strong feeling of intervention of the control and, at the same time, capable of controlling behavior of a vehicle in such a manner as to also improve stability of the vehicle attitude and riding comfort. In a vehicle behavior control device applied to a vehicle having steerable front road wheels, the vehicle behavior control device includes a PCM which acquires a steering speed of the vehicle, and generates a deceleration jerk which is a rearward jerk in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle when the steering speed becomes equal to or greater than a given threshold T.sub.S1 which is greater than zero.

Disclosed herein are an apparatus for detecting a road surface state in motor-driven power steering (MDPS) and a method for controlling the apparatus. The apparatus may include a column torque sensor to detect column torque applied to a steering column and to output a column torque signal; a steering angle sensor to detect a steering angular velocity of a steering wheel; a vehicle speed sensor to detect a driving speed of a vehicle; and a road surface determiner to determine a road surface state based on a boost gain, which is calculated based on the driving speed and the column torque, and on a phase offset between the column torque and the steering angular velocity and to output a road surface determination signal.

A driving assistance apparatus determines, based on an instantaneous indicator which is an instantaneous value of a parameter regarding steering of the own vehicle, whether a driver has started a collision avoidance operation for avoiding a collision between a target and the own vehicle. When it is determined that the collision avoidance operation has been started, a support start timing for starting driving assistance for avoiding the collision or reducing collision damage is set to be a timing later than when the collision avoidance operation has not been started. The support start timing during a collision avoidance time period which is a time period until a predetermined set time has elapsed after it is determined that the collision avoidance operation has been started is set based on a time-dependent indicator for steering indicated by the instantaneous indicator at timings during the collision avoidance time period.

A dual path agricultural machine including a control system having a number of input sensors, status sensors, and output sensors, and a controller configured to operate the dual path machine in a stability control mode and a selective rear-steer engagement and actuation mode. In the stability control mode, the controller adjusts an actual drive output of the dual path machine according to data received from the input sensors and feedback received from the output sensors so as to reduce a difference between the actual drive output and a desired drive output. In selective rear-steer engagement and actuation mode, the controller engages rear-steer mechanisms with caster wheels of the dual path machine and actuates the caster wheels via the rear-steer mechanisms if a criterion is satisfied. The controller disengages the rear-steer mechanisms from the caster wheels or does not actuate the caster wheels if the criterion is not satisfied.

Provided is a vehicle control system capable of controlling the behavior of a vehicle, in conformity to a tire longitudinal spring constant, to improve responsivity and linear feeling of the vehicle behavior with respect to a steering manipulation. The vehicle control system comprises a steering angle sensor (8) and a PCM (14). The PCM is configured to set, based on a detection value of the steering angle sensor, an additional deceleration to be added to a vehicle (1), and control the vehicle to generate the set additional deceleration in the vehicle, wherein the additional deceleration is set to be larger when a tire longitudinal spring constant (Kt) of each road wheel of the vehicle is relatively small than when it is not relatively small.