A suspension monitoring and adjustment system for an off-road vehicle includes a distance sensor arranged to measure shock displacement of a suspension of the vehicle. The system may include an output device configured to output shock displacement data generated by the distance sensor and a processor or programmable circuit operable to produce a visual representation of the shock displacement data output by the output device. The system may include a processor or programmable circuit operable to generate an adjustment signal based on shock displacement data generated by the distance sensor and a suspension adjuster arranged to adjust the suspension of the vehicle in response to the adjustment signal.

A vehicle control method includes a step of executing preview vibration damping control for controlling a control force generating apparatus, when a wheel passes a predicated passage position, on the basis of a target control force computed by using a road surface displacement related value at the predicated passage position. The control method further includes a step of determining whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied, the predetermined condition being satisfied when a time series change of the road surface displacement related value on a predicted route of the wheel falls within a controllable range of the control force generating apparatus, and a step of executing a particular process for reducing the magnitude of the road surface displacement related value at the predicted passage position when the predetermined condition is not satisfied.

A vehicle control method includes a step of executing preview vibration damping control for controlling a control force generating apparatus, when a wheel passes a predicated passage position, on the basis of a target control force computed by using a road surface displacement related value at the predicated passage position. The control method further includes a step of determining whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied, the predetermined condition being satisfied when a time series change of the road surface displacement related value on a predicted route of the wheel falls within a controllable range of the control force generating apparatus, and a step of executing a particular process for reducing the magnitude of the road surface displacement related value at the predicted passage position when the predetermined condition is not satisfied.

Systems for estimating an axle load of a vehicle wherein axle load is estimated in response to an angle between two components of an axle. The angle may change as weight is added to or removed from the axle such that axle load may be determined as a function of the angle.

A method for adapting a transfer function of an active suspension of a vehicle comprises the vehicle driving along a section of road for which a surface profile is stored in a control unit of the vehicle. The active suspension is activated according to a predetermined transfer function for adaptation to the surface profile by means of adjustment values in order to compensate for unevenness of the surface profile. A shock absorber sensor system and/or a tire sensor system of the vehicle is used to record vertical accelerations while driving along the section of road and transfer them to the control unit. The invention provides that the adjustment values and the vertical accelerations are transferred by the vehicle to an external central computer.

An approach is provided for location-aware wheel camber settings. The approach involves, for example, collecting tire temperature data, wheel camber data, and location data from one or more sensors of a plurality of vehicles. The approach also involves processing the tire temperature data, wheel camber data, and location data to determine a target wheel camber for a road segment indicated by the location data. The target wheel camber is determined from one or more observed wheel cambers indicated in the wheel camber data. The target wheel camber is also associated with a target tire temperature indicated in the tire temperature data. The approach further involves storing the target wheel camber as an attribute of map data associated with the road segment.

A suspension monitoring and adjustment system for an off-road vehicle includes a distance sensor arranged to measure shock displacement of a suspension of the vehicle. The system may include an output device configured to output shock displacement data generated by the distance sensor and a processor or programmable circuit operable to produce a visual representation of the shock displacement data output by the output device. The system may include a processor or programmable circuit operable to generate an adjustment signal based on shock displacement data generated by the distance sensor and a suspension adjuster arranged to adjust the suspension of the vehicle in response to the adjustment signal.

A damping control device and a damping control method for controlling damping of a vehicle are provided. Damping control of the vehicle is performed by adaptively switching a damping mode while considering energy consumption (fuel economy, a consumption amount of a battery, and the like) according to a state of the vehicle such as a state of an interior of the vehicle, a driving state of the vehicle, and an ambient environment. That is, the state of an interior of the vehicle, the driving state of the vehicle, and the ambient environment are constantly monitored, and the damping mode is switched to a weak damping mode in the case where unnecessity of damping as strong as a current state is determined whereas the damping mode is switched to a strong damping mode in the case where necessity of stronger damping is determined.

A method for checking status of a vibration damper of a motor vehicle includes selecting a suitable section of a roadway, via processing circuitry at a server, based on section selection criteria comprising a number of passing vehicles, a data input sufficient for correlation analyses of the vibration damper, and homogeneity of the roadway. The method further includes acquiring data from a plurality of other vehicles while the other vehicles are driving through the section, grouping data items from the acquired data that are specifically associated with vibration damper status, classifying the status of the vibration damper based on the data items, and informing the driver about the status of the vibration damper. The data on the number of the other vehicles may include data indicative of other vehicle vibration dampers in new condition defining reference values for a degree of wear of the vibration damper.

A suspension monitoring and adjustment system for an off-road vehicle includes a distance sensor arranged to measure shock displacement of a suspension of the vehicle. The system may include an output device configured to output shock displacement data generated by the distance sensor and a processor or programmable circuit operable to produce a visual representation of the shock displacement data output by the output device. The system may include a processor or programmable circuit operable to generate an adjustment signal based on shock displacement data generated by the distance sensor and a suspension adjuster arranged to adjust the suspension of the vehicle in response to the adjustment signal.