Patent ID: 8190333

Claim:
A vehicle control apparatus comprising: a drive unit that drives a mechanism provided in a vehicle; an operating portion that is operated by an occupant and instructs the drive unit to drive; a collision predicting portion that predicts a collision; and a control portion that controls the drive unit, wherein the control portion controls the drive unit to: (i) place the mechanism in a predetermined state when the collision is predicted by the collision predicting portion, and (ii) vary a driving speed of the drive unit when the operating portion is operated while the drive unit is being controlled upon prediction of the collision, the control portion controls the drive unit at a first speed when the collision predicting portion predicts the collision, and decreases the driving speed of the drive unit to a second speed that is slower than the first speed when the operating portion is operated while the drive unit is being driven at the first speed, the drive unit is structured so as to drive in a first direction and a second direction that is opposite the first direction, the control portion controls so as to reverse a driving direction of the drive unit to the second direction after decreasing the driving speed of the drive unit from the first speed to the second speed, when there is a drive command to drive the drive unit in the second direction in response to operation of the operating portion while the drive unit is being driven in the first direction at the first speed, after the driving direction of the drive unit is reversed to the second direction, the control portion controls the drive unit such that the drive unit continues to be driven at the second speed, and the mechanism is returned to a state before being driven by the drive unit.