Patent ID: 7920953

Claim:
A running control device for a four-wheel drive vehicle that runs by transmitting rotational output from an engine to front wheels and rear wheels, comprising: lateral acceleration measurement means for measuring an actual lateral acceleration acting on the four-wheel drive vehicle; lateral acceleration calculation means for calculating an estimated lateral acceleration of the four-wheel drive vehicle based on the speed of the four-wheel drive vehicle and the steering angle of the front wheels, which are steering wheels; control lateral acceleration calculation means for calculating a control lateral acceleration from the actual lateral acceleration measured by the lateral acceleration measurement means and the estimated lateral acceleration calculated by the lateral acceleration calculation means; and drive power distribution control means for carrying out control of distribution of drive power transmitted to the front wheels and rear wheels from the engine based on the control lateral acceleration calculated by the control lateral acceleration calculation means, wherein if the difference between the estimated lateral acceleration and the actual lateral acceleration, or the difference between the control lateral acceleration and the actual lateral acceleration is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the drive power distribution control means carries out a control to reduce the drive power distributed to the front wheels or the rear wheels.