Patent ID: 7380538

Claim:
A vehicle comprising: a vehicle body; a seat for a driver associated with the vehicle body; an engine associated with the vehicle body for powering the vehicle, the engine having at least one combustion chamber; an electronic control unit (ECU) on the vehicle for controlling operation of the engine; a throttle body in fluid communication with the at least one combustion chamber; a throttle valve disposed in the throttle body for controlling an amount of air supplied to the at least one combustion chamber; a throttle valve actuator operatively connected to the throttle valve and in electronic communication with the ECU; a throttle operator disposed on the vehicle in proximity to the seat; a throttle operator position sensor for sensing a throttle operator position and in electronic communication with the ECU for sending a signal representative of a throttle operator position to the ECU; a shifter disposed on the vehicle in proximity to the seat for selecting a vehicle operation direction between a forward direction and a reverse direction; and a vehicle operation direction sensor for sensing the vehicle operation direction and in electronic communication with the ECU for sending a signal representative of the vehicle operation direction to the ECU, the ECU sending a control signal to the throttle valve actuator based on the throttle operator position signal and the vehicle operation direction signal, the throttle valve actuator adjusting a degree of opening of the throttle valve in response to the control signal, the control signal causing the throttle valve actuator to adjust the degree of opening of the throttle valve based on the throttle operator position signal up to a first maximum degree of opening of the throttle valve when the vehicle operation direction is a forward direction, and the control signal causing the throttle valve actuator to adjust the degree of opening of the throttle valve based on the throttle operator position signal up to a second maximum degree of opening of the throttle valve when the vehicle operation direction is a reverse direction, the first maximum degree of opening of the throttle valve being higher than the second maximum degree of opening of the throttle valve.