Suspension System with On-Demand Full Damper Capacity
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsSteven Thompson, Tom Sawarynski, Adam Busack, Jason Michener, Matthew Titus
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A suspension control system for a vehicle may include a plurality of adjustable dampers associated with suspension of respective ones of a plurality of wheels of the vehicle, a controller operably coupled to the adjustable dampers to selectively adjust a damping force of one or more of the adjustable dampers responsive to an activation signal, and a driver interface disposed at a steering wheel assembly of the vehicle. The driver interface may be actuated by a driver of the vehicle to apply the activation signal while the driver interface is actuated.
Claims20
A suspension control system for a vehicle, the system comprising:
- a plurality of adjustable dampers associated with suspension of respective ones of a plurality of wheels of the vehicle;
- a controller operably coupled to the adjustable dampers to selectively adjust a damping force of one or more of the adjustable dampers responsive to an activation signal;
- and
- a multi-purpose driver interface disposed at a steering wheel assembly of the vehicle, the multi-purpose driver interface being actuated by a driver of the vehicle to apply the activation signal while the driver interface is actuated,
- wherein the multi-purpose driver interface has a different primary function from applying the activation signal related to a different vehicle subsystem in a first mode, and
- wherein selectively adjusting the damping force of the one or more of the adjustable dampers is performed as a real time adjustment responsive to the multi-purpose driver interface being actuated during a suspension event in a second mode.
A suspension control system for a vehicle, the system comprising:
- a plurality of adjustable dampers associated with suspension of respective ones of a plurality of wheels of the vehicle;
- a controller operably coupled to the adjustable dampers to selectively adjust a damping force of one or more of the adjustable dampers responsive to an activation signal;
- and
- a driver interface disposed proximate to a steering wheel assembly of the vehicle, the driver interface being actuated by a driver of the vehicle to apply the activation signal while the driver interface is actuated,
- wherein in a first mode the activation signal is applied to individual ones of the adjustable dampers, and in a second mode the activation is applied to all of the adjustable dampers simultaneously responsive to the actuation of the driver interface during a suspension event.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.