Patent ID: 7917274

Claim:
A method of controlling a vehicle towing a trailer, comprising: determining if a sway force is exerted on the vehicle by the trailer, the determining if a sway force is exerted on the vehicle by the trailer comprising: generating signals indicative of a vehicle yaw rate; filtering the signals of the vehicle yaw rate to obtain values of an actual yaw rate; determining for a predetermined time an oscillation direction of the vehicle using frequency and amplitude values of the actual yaw rate; determining if a vehicle speed of the vehicle is greater than a predetermined speed; determining if a steering wheel angle is opposite the determined oscillation direction; and determining that values of the actual yaw rate are greater than threshold values; and if it is determined that the sway force is exerted on the vehicle, reducing a torque of an engine of the vehicle and applying independent braking forces to each wheel of the vehicle to reduce the sway.