Vehicle behavior control device to control a vehicle based on steering characteristics

A vehicle behavior control device configured to control a behavior of a vehicle having steerable front road wheels, comprising:

• a steering apparatus configured to transmit rotation of a steering wheel toward the front road wheels, the steering apparatus having:
• a steering wheel-side mechanism which is coupled to the steering wheel and configured to transmit rotation of the steering wheel;
• and a road wheel-side mechanism which is coupled to the steering wheel-side mechanism via a low rigidity portion having a relatively low torsional rigidity or is mechanically separated from the steering wheel-side mechanism, and configured to turn the front road wheels according to the rotation of the steering wheel;
• and
• a controller configured to, when a steering speed in the steering apparatus becomes greater than a given threshold greater than 0, perform a driving force reduction control in order to reduce a vehicle driving force according to the steering speed,
• wherein the steering apparatus comprises:
• a first steering angle sensor provided in the steering wheel-side mechanism and configured to detect a steering angle corresponding to rotation of the steering wheel;
• and a second steering angle sensor provided in the road wheel-side mechanism and configured to detect a steering angle corresponding to turning of the front road wheels,
• wherein the controller is configured to calculate the steering speed from an output of the first steering angle sensor and an output of the second steering angle sensor in order to perform the driving force reduction control based on the steering speed, and
• wherein the controller is configured to perform a determination whether a steering generated in the vehicle corresponds to a steering operation purposefully performed by a driver or a turning of the front road wheels by a disturbance force, based on the output of the first steering angle sensor and the output of the second steering angle sensor, and is configured to change a method for calculating the steering speed in accordance with a result of the determination.