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US 11,111,894 B2Granted
Engine stop/start inhibit during vehicle service
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsAed Dudar, Mahmoud Ghannam
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods for operating an engine that may be automatically stopped and started without a human driver providing input to a device that has a sole function of stopping and starting the engine are presented. In one example, automatic engine starting is inhibited responsive to output of vehicle sensors that may be indicative of service being performed on a vehicle.
Claims16
An engine control method, comprising:
- automatically stopping an engine responsive to vehicle operating conditions;
- and
- inhibiting automatic starting of the engine via a controller in response to an indication that service is being performed on a vehicle as determined via the controller according to output of one or more sensors including vehicle suspension sensors, tire pressure sensors, a camera, fluid level sensors, or inertial sensors.
An engine control method, comprising:
- automatically stopping an engine responsive to vehicle operating conditions;
- inhibiting automatic starting of the engine via a controller in response to an indication that service is being performed on a vehicle while the vehicle's engine compartment hood is closed, where inhibiting automatic starting of the engine includes inhibiting automatic starting of the engine to a time when the inhibiting is overridden via a human, and where the indication is provided via one or more of a change in an engine oil level, a change in fuel pressure, a change in tire pressure, or a camera.
A vehicle system, comprising:
- an engine coupled to a vehicle;
- and
- a controller including executable instructions stored in non-transitory memory to automatically stop the engine responsive to vehicle operating conditions and inhibit automatically starting the engine responsive to an indication of service being performed on the vehicle provided via a vehicle suspension sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.