Patent ID: 7562948

Claim:
A deceleration control apparatus for applying a braking force to cause deceleration of an automotive vehicle by regulating an individual brake fluid pressure on each vehicle wheel in accordance with a traveling state of the vehicle, comprising a control unit programmed to read an actual vehicle speed, a steering angle, a lateral acceleration and an actual yaw rate of the vehicle; calculate a target yaw rate from the actual vehicle speed and the steering angle; set a lateral acceleration limit of the vehicle; determine a target vehicle speed based on the lateral acceleration limit and a higher value of the actual yaw rate and the target yaw rate; calculate a target deceleration rate from the actual vehicle speed and the target vehicle speed; control vehicle deceleration according to the target deceleration rate; estimate, prior to causing said vehicle deceleration, a change in vehicle behavior according to the lateral acceleration and the calculated target deceleration rate of the vehicle and depending on a load shift that can occur under said deceleration; calculate a target braking force differential based on the estimated vehicle behavior change; and then, control a braking force differential applied between left and right wheels of the vehicle according to a reference braking force in accordance with the target braking force differential so as to suppress said estimated vehicle behavior change.