Patent ID: 7950750

Claim:
A braking force maintaining apparatus of a vehicle, the vehicle including a braking device that applies a braking force to each of a plurality of wheels of the vehicle through depression of a brake pedal, the wheels including a left steered wheel and a right steered wheel that are steered through manipulation of a steering wheel, the apparatus executing hill-hold control in which the braking force acting on each wheel of the vehicle in a stopped state through the depression of the brake pedal is maintained by the braking device even after release of the brake pedal, the apparatus comprising: a yaw rate detecting device that detects a yaw rate of the vehicle; a yaw rate determining section that determines whether the yaw rate detected by the yaw rate detecting device is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold value; a wheel lock determining section that determines whether the wheels are held in a locked state by the braking force applied by the braking device; and a control section that controls the braking device in such a manner that, if determination of the wheel lock determining section is positive and determination of the yaw rate determining section is positive, the braking force acting on first wheels, which are some of the plurality of wheels including at least a specific wheel, falls below the braking force at a start of the hill-hold control, the specific wheel being one of the steered wheels that corresponds to an outer wheel when the steered wheels are steered through the manipulation of the steering wheel intended to correct an offset posture of the vehicle that causes generation of the yaw rate, and wherein, if the determination of the yaw rate determining section switches from positive to negative, the control section controls the braking device in such a manner as to decrease the braking force acting on second wheels, which are wheels other than the first wheels, so that the braking force acting on all the plurality of wheels falls below the braking force at the start of the hill-hold control.