Patent ID: 6896086

Claim:
A vehicle hood control apparatus for use with a vehicle including a hood-lifting actuator, which comprises: a vehicle speed detection section for detecting a vehicle speed on the basis of wheel rotation signals indicative of rotation of a wheel of the vehicle and thereby outputting a vehicle speed signal; a collision detection section for detecting a collision, with an external object, of the vehicle and thereby outputting a collision detection signal; a memory for storing values of a plurality of the vehicle speed signals sequentially output by said vehicle speed detection section; a wheel slip detection section for detecting a slip of the wheel on the basis of the values of the vehicle speed signals stored in said memory and thereby outputting a wheel slip detection signal; and a hood activation control section including means for determining whether a value of a current vehicle speed signal received from said vehicle speed detection section is equal to or greater than a predetermined apparatus-activating vehicle speed value to place said hood activation control section in a first state for awaiting reception of the collision detection signal or whether the value of the current vehicle speed signal is smaller than the predetermined apparatus-activating vehicle speed value to place said hood activation control section in a second state for awaiting reception of the wheel slip signal, wherein said hood activation control section being in said first state activates said hood-lifting actuator, on condition that the collision detection signal has been received from said collision detection section, wherein said hood activation control section being in said second state activates said hood-lifting actuator, on condition that the wheel slip signal has been received from said wheel slip detection section and that the collision detection signal has been received from said collision detection section.