Systems and methods for alerting drivers of excessive tongue weight
AssigneeToyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.
InventorDustin A. Crooks
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vehicle includes a suspension that includes a front suspension and a rear suspension, a trailer hitch configured to removably connect to a tongue of a trailer, at least one front suspension transducer configured to generate a front suspension displacement signal, at least one rear suspension transducer configured to generate a rear suspension displacement signal, and an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured to receive the front suspension displacement signal, receive the rear suspension displacement signal, and generate an alert of an excessive tongue weight condition based on one or more of the front suspension displacement signal and the rear suspension displacement signal.
Claims20
A vehicle comprising:
- a suspension comprising a front suspension and a rear suspension;
- a trailer hitch configured to removably connect to a tongue of a trailer;
- at least one front suspension transducer configured to generate a front suspension displacement signal;
- at least one rear suspension transducer configured to generate a rear suspension displacement signal;
- and
- an electronic control unit configured to:
- receive the front suspension displacement signal;
- receive the rear suspension displacement signal;
- generate an alert of an excessive tongue weight condition based on one or more of the front suspension displacement signal and the rear suspension displacement signal;
- and
- adjust a height of one or more of the front suspension and the rear suspension based on one or more of the front suspension displacement signal and the rear suspension displacement signal and in response to the alert of the excessive tongue weight condition.
A vehicle comprising:
- a suspension;
- a trailer hitch configured to removably connect to a tongue of a trailer;
- at least one externally facing camera configured to generate a visual signal;
- and
- an electronic control unit configured to:
- receive the visual signal;
- generate an alert of an excessive tongue weight condition based on the visual signal;
- and
- adjust a height of the suspension based on the visual signal of the externally facing camera and in response to the alert of the excessive tongue weight condition.
An electronic control unit for generating an excessive tongue weight alert for a vehicle, the electronic control unit configured to:
- receive a visual signal from at least one externally facing camera communicatively coupled to the electronic control unit;
- generate an alert of an excessive tongue weight condition based on the visual signal from the at least one externally facing camera;
- and
- adjust a height of one or more of a front suspension and a rear suspension the vehicle based on the visual signal of the at least one externally facing camera and in response to the alert of the excessive tongue weight condition.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.