Patent ID: 7915998

Claim:
A vehicle control apparatus comprising: a main control portion disposed on a vehicle, including at least three antennas; a search signal transmitting section for transmitting a search signal from the respective antennas for detecting a portable unit; a detecting section for detecting, based on a response signal sent back by the portable unit in response to the search signal, a relative position of the portable unit to the vehicle in a vehicle-inside area and a vehicle-outside area which are an acceptable range in which the portable unit receives the search signal; and a suppressing section that suppresses output of the response signal and prolongs an output cycle of the search signal, when it is detected that the position of the portable unit is not shifted or changed, wherein the vehicle is controlled when the detecting section detects that a position of the portable unit is shifted from an out-of-range to a vehicle-outside area, or shifted from the vehicle-outside area to the out-of-range, or shifted within the vehicle-outside area, the response signal includes the field strength of the search signal of the respective antennas measured by the portable unit, and the detecting section calculates distances between the respective antennas and the portable unit, based on the field strength of the respective antennas included in the response signal, and calculates relative position information of the portable unit to the vehicle using the calculated distances, and the detecting section can detect a position of the portable unit within the vehicle, and when the position cannot be detected, controlling the vehicle is prohibited.