Patent ID: 8172237

Claim:
A vehicle suspension comprising: an active air suspension including at least one air spring assembly including a piston airbag and a primary air bag mounted around said piston airbag such that said piston airbag provides a rolloff piston surface for said primary air bag, said at least one air spring assembly having a spring characteristic; an adaptive damping system including at least one damper associated with said at least one air spring assembly, said at least one damper having a damping characteristic, and wherein said adaptive damping system works in conjunction with said active air suspension to provide a desired vehicle ride and handling output; and a controller that generates electric control signals to actively vary at least one of said damping characteristic and said spring characteristic to provide the desired vehicle ride and handling output, and wherein said controller generates control signals to vary air flow in and out of the piston and primary airbags and generates control signals to control the damping characteristic to maintain a constant damping coefficient for said air spring assembly.