Tire and suspension warning and monitoring system

An apparatus for monitoring shock absorber performance of a shock absorber attached to a vehicle wheel, the apparatus comprising:

• a sensor for sensing at least one acceleration of the wheel and for providing acceleration signals corresponding thereto;
• a collector for collecting a predetermined number of acceleration signals samples;
• a transformer and normalizer for transforming and normalizing the samples within a first predetermined frequency range;
• a summer for summing the transformed and normalized samples within a second predetermined frequency range;
• a comparator for comparing the summed samples with a previously stored baseline value;
• and
• an output circuit for outputting a signal of the comparison result of the comparator, the comparison result being indicative of the monitored shock absorber performance.

A method of monitoring shock absorber performance comprising:

• sensing and analyzing changes to matched-filtered vibrations of a tire/wheel assembly;
• determining shock absorber performance based on said sensing and analyzing;
• and
• providing an indication of a non-functional shock absorber based on said determining.

An apparatus for monitoring shock absorber performance comprising:

• a sensor to sense vibrations of a tire/wheel assembly;
• a processing device to match filter the sensed vibrations and analyze changes to the matched-filtered vibrations and to determine shock absorber performance based on the sensed changes;
• and
• a display for providing an indication in response to the determined performance.