Suspension control system

A suspension control system for use in a vehicle, comprising;

• a vehicle speed sensor for sensing a vehicle speed to provide a signal representing said vehicle speed;
• vehicle body behavior variation detecting means for detecting variations in a braking condition which indicates whether said vehicle is abruptly braked;
• vehicle speed determining means for calculating a vehicle speed from said signals provided by said vehicle speed sensor and comparing said calculated vehicle speed with a value representing a predetermined vehicle speed;
• vehicle body behavior variation counting means for counting said variations in the braking condition for a predetermined period of time according to an output of said vehicle body behavior variation detecting means;
• damping force changing means for changing a vehicle body suspension damping force;
• and
• damping force determining means for determining a damping force according to said vehicle speed determined by said vehicle speed determining means and the number of variations in the braking condition counted by said vehicle body behavior variation counting means, to apply an instruction signal to said damping force changing means so that when said vehicle speed determined by said vehicle speed determining means is equal to or higher than a first predetermined vehicle speed, and when the number of said variations in the braking condition counted by said vehicle body behavior variation counting means is equal to or higher than a first predetermined value, said damping force changing means operates to increase said damping force to an increased value and to maintain said damping force at said increased value.

A suspension control system for use in a vehicle, comprising:

• a vehicle speed sensor for sensing a vehicle speed to provide a signal representing said vehicle speed;
• vehicle body behavior variation detecting means for detecting variations in behavior of a vehicle body;
• vehicle speed determining means for calculating a vehicle speed from said signal provided by said vehicle speed sensor and comparing said calculated vehicle speed with a value representing a predetermined vehicle speed;
• vehicle body behavior variation counting means for counting said vehicle body behavior variations for a predetermined period of time according to an output of said vehicle body behavior variation detecting means;
• damping force changing means for changing a vehicle body suspension damping force;
• and
• damping force determining means for determining a damping force according to said vehicle speed determined by said vehicle speed determining means and the number of vehicle body behavior variations counted by said vehicle body behavior variation counting means, to control said damping force changing means in the following manner:
• when the vehicle speed determined by said vehicle speed determining means is lower than a first predetermined vehicle speed, and said damping force is set to a low value, said damping force changing means operates to maintain said damping force at said low value regardless of whether any said vehicle body behavior variation has occurred during the predetermined period of time;
• when said vehicle speed determined by said vehicle speed determining means is equal to or higher than said first predetermined vehicle speed, said damping force is set to a low value, and the number of said vehicle body behavior variations counted by said vehicle body behavior variation counting means during the predetermined period of time is equal to or higher than a first predetermined value, said damping force changing means operates to increase said damping force to an increased value and to maintain said damping force at said increased value;
• when said damping force is set to a high value, and said vehicle speed detected by said vehicle speed determining means is lower than a second predetermined vehicle speed, said damping force changing means operates to return said damping force to said low value;
• and
• when said damping force is set to a high value, and said vehicle speed detected by said vehicle speed determining means is equal to or higher than said second predetermined vehicle speed, said damping force changing means operates to maintain said damping force at said high value if said damping force has not been at said high value for a determined period of time.