Vehicle control device

A vehicle control device, comprising:

• an engine;
• an engine control mechanism configured to control torque generated by the engine, the engine control mechanism being selected from the group consisting of a throttle valve, a fuel injector, an ignition plug, a variable intake valve, and a variable exhaust valve;
• a processor;
• and
• a computer readable memory storing software modules executable by the processor, the software modules comprising:
• a vehicle attitude controlling module including instructions for controlling the engine control mechanism to perform a vehicle attitude control to reduce the torque so as to decelerate the vehicle when a condition that the vehicle is traveling and a steering angle related value that is related to a steering angle of a steering device increases is satisfied;
• and
• a preventing module including instructions for controlling the engine control mechanism to prevent an engine speed from falling below a given speed while the vehicle attitude controlling module executes the vehicle attitude control.

A vehicle control device, comprising:

• an engine including a plurality of cylinders and having an operation mode of a reduced-cylinder operation in which combustion in one or some of the plurality of cylinders is suspended;
• an engine control mechanism configured to control torque generated by the engine, the engine control mechanism being selected from the group consisting of a throttle valve, a fuel injector, an ignition plug, a variable intake valve, and a variable exhaust valve;
• a processor;
• and
• a computer readable memory storing software modules executable by the processor, the software modules comprising:
• a vehicle attitude controlling module including instructions for controlling the engine control mechanism to perform a vehicle attitude control to reduce the torque so as to decelerate the vehicle when a condition that the vehicle is traveling and a steering angle related value that is related to a steering angle of a steering device increases is satisfied;
• and
• a preventing module including instructions for controlling the engine control mechanism to prevent that the engine performs the reduced-cylinder operation while the vehicle attitude controlling module executes the vehicle attitude control.