Patent ID: 7302339

Claim:
A control system for a vehicle to provide countermeasures to hazards comprising: a vehicle position determining system; a geographic database of potential hazards; an external data network; vehicle systems that are manually or automatically controlled; manually or automatically operable switches that activate the vehicle systems; and a hazard countermeasure controller comprising a computer and controller program that acquires input from the vehicle position determining system, the geographic database of potential hazards, the external data network and the at least one of the manually or automatically operable switches and communicates with the vehicle systems that are controlled by the control system, the geographic database of potential hazards and the external data network; and wherein the hazard countermeasure controller uses the acquired inputs to make a determination of automatically controlling at least one of the plurality of vehicle systems to provide countermeasures for hazards and to return those systems to their original states once the vehicle has overcome a hazard.