Patent ID: 8738219

Claim:
A controller for indicating whether a previously-detected, acceleration-sensor malfunction no longer exists, the controller comprising: an electronic memory; and an electronic processing unit connected to the electronic memory, the electronic processing module including, a malfunction monitoring module configured to monitor the operation of an acceleration sensor and generate a fault signal when an absolute value of an offset value of the acceleration sensor is greater than a first predetermined threshold, the fault signal containing fault information and causing at least one of a tell-tale indicator to be activated or a vehicle control module to modify its operation from a first operating state to a second operating state, a failure handling module configured to cause drive cycle information and the fault information to be stored in the electronic memory, and a signal checking module configured to perform a signal check after the malfunction monitoring module generates the fault signal, the signal check including retrieving drive cycle information from the electronic memory, determining whether to execute a signal check function based on the drive cycle information, executing the signal check function with a longitudinal acceleration signal including the offset value, the signal check function including comparing the absolute value of offset value with a second predetermined threshold smaller than the first predetermined threshold, the predetermined threshold based on a distance traveled which exceeds a predetermined threshold distance, determining the longitudinal acceleration signal passes the signal check function when the absolute value of the offset value is less than the second predetermined threshold, generating a reset signal when the longitudinal acceleration signal passes the signal check function, the reset signal causing at least one of the tell-tale indicator to be deactivated and the vehicle control module to resume operation in the first operating state.