Vehicle control device for controlling output power of multi-cylinder engine upon emergency

A vehicle control device for controlling an output power of a multi-cylinder engine upon an occurrence of a failure in parts associated with said engine, said vehicle control device comprising:

• acceleration pedal position sensor means for detecting a position of an acceleration pedal, said acceleration pedal position sensor means generating an output corresponding to said position of said acceleration pedal;
• engine rotational speed sensor means for detecting an engine rotational speed of the engine;
• throttle means, including a throttle valve disposed in an air-intake pipe coupled to said engine, for regulating an amount of air-intake into said engine;
• failure detector means for detecting an occurrence of a failure in said throttle means;
• and
• means for enabling a reduced output power limp home operation of the vehicle in response to the occurrence of a failure in the throttle means as detected by the failure detector means, said enabling means comprising control means coupled to said acceleration pedal position sensor means, said engine rotational speed sensor means and said failure detector means for disabling some cylinders of said multi-cylinder engine in accordance with said output of said acceleration pedal position sensor means when the rotational speed of the engine detected by said engine rotational speed sensor means is less than or equal to a predetermined level and upon detection of a throttle means failure.