Patent ID: 7536272

Claim:
A method for estimating total mass of a motor vehicle, comprising: calculating, by a recursive least-squares algorithm, longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle based on Newton's Second Law of Motion, by analysis of errors, by an acceleration variation due to errors comprising an error in variation of the vehicle mass relative to a reference mass, an error in inclination of the surface on which the vehicle is traveling, and errors of a model, the inclination being supplied by a slope sensor or by an inclination-estimating mechanism; and estimating the inclination of the surface on which the motor vehicle is traveling based on the acceleration variation due to errors, the recursive least-squares algorithm depends on the inclination and has at least two modes, a flat mode when the inclination is within a predetermined interval of values corresponding to a plane surface, and a slope mode when the inclination is not within the predetermined interval of values corresponding to the plane surface.