Patent ID: 6050359
Filing Date: 2000-04-18
Classification: B60T,B62D

Abstract:
A vehicle steering system for a motor vehicle, comprising:a first steering mechanism--for steering a front wheel in accordance with a manual rotation of a steering wheel;a second steering mechanism for steering one of the front wheel and a rear wheel of the vehicle with an actuator independently of the first steering mechanism;selecting means for allowing a driver to select one of a manual steering mode of the first steering mechanism and an automatic steering mode of the second steering mechanism;controlling means for performing an automatic control for automatically controlling the actuator of the second steering mechanism in accordance with information on driving environment of the vehicle when the automatic steering mode is selected;holding means for holding a steering angle of the first steering mechanism while the second steering mechanism is in operation to steer one of the front and rear wheels of the vehicle; andneutral sensing means comprising a steering angle sensor for sensing a steering angle of the first steering mechanism to determine whether the first steering mechanism is in or close to a neutral steering position, the controlling mean being allowed to initiate the automatic control in the automatic steering mode only when the first steering mechanism is or close to in the neutral position.