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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Vehicle suspension system

Patent ·
OSTI ID:6879450

A vehicle suspension system is described comprising a front suspension system for resiliently suspending the front wheels of a vehicle; a rear suspension system for resiliently suspending the rear wheels of the vehicle; at least one of the front and rear suspension systems having a variable suspension characteristic; an adjustment means for changing the suspension characteristic of the at least one of the front and rear suspension systems; a roll detecting means which detects rolling of the vehicle exceeding a predetermined level and outputs a detection signal; a vehicle speed detecting means which detects whether the vehicle speed is higher than a predetermined value and outputs a detection signal; and a control means which receives the detection signals from the roll detecting means and the vehicle speed detecting means and delivers to the adjustment means a control signal to control the suspension characteristic of the at least one of the front and rear suspension systems. This is done so that when the vehicle speed is lower than the predetermined value, the steering characteristic is more toward the oversteer side when the degree of rolling of the vehicle is larger than the predetermined level than when the degree of rolling is smaller than the predetermined level and, when the vehicle speed is not lower than the predetermined value, the steering characteristic is fixed irrespective of the degree of rolling of the vehicle.

Assignee:
Mazda Motor Corp.
Patent Number(s):
US 4650212
OSTI ID:
6879450
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English