Patent ID: 7726270

Claim:
An engine start control apparatus for a vehicle having an internal combustion engine and an electric rotating machine connected to a crankshaft of the internal combustion engine, said engine start control apparatus operable to control the electric rotating machine to selectably crank the crankshaft, said engine start control apparatus comprising: a vehicle operating state sensor to detect the operating state of the vehicle; an intake valve sensor to detect the actual closing timing, during cranking, of an intake valve of the internal combustion engine; a variable valve timing mechanism capable of varying the opening and closing timings of the intake valve and to set the intake valve at a predetermined closing timing; an electronic control unit that determines a predetermined initial output torque for the electric rotating machine based on the operating state of the vehicle when the intake valve is at the predetermined closing timing; an advance instruction unit that when the cranking is started, determines an advance amount by which a closing timing of the intake valve in a compression stroke is advanced from the predetermined closing timing toward a bottom dead center to produce a determined advance amount and wherein the advance instruction unit instructs the variable valve timing mechanism to advance the closing timing of the intake valve from the predetermined closing timing by the determined advance amount; an abnormality determination unit determines is an abnormality in the variable valve timing mechanism if the determined advance amount is larger than 0, and the actual closing timing of the intake valve is not equal to the predetermined closing timing advanced by the determined advance amount; and an electric rotating machine control unit that controls an output torque of the electric rotating machine when the abnormality determination unit determines that there is an abnormality in the variable valve timing mechanism so that the output torque of the electric rotating machine is larger than the predetermined initial output torque.