Patent ID: 8497728

Claim:
An electronic control apparatus comprising: a switching element having a control terminal, the switching element being driven by a voltage at the control terminal; an ON-drive constant-current circuit connected to the control terminal of the switching element, supplying a constant current to the control terminal thereby charging the control terminal of the switching element with electrical charge, the ON-drive constant-current circuit including a current control transistor that controls the current supplied to the control terminal of the switching element and a current detection element that detects the current flowing to the current control transistor, an input terminal of the current control transistor being connected to a drive power supply unit and an output terminal of the current control transistor being connected to the control terminal of the switching element, and the current detection element being connected to the current control transistor; an OFF-drive switching element connected to the control terminal of the switching element, discharging electrical charge from the control terminal of the switching element by being turned ON; and a control circuit adapted to control the ON-drive constant-current circuit and the OFF-drive switching element in response to a drive signal being inputted, thereby controlling the voltage of the control terminal of the switching element so as to drive the switching element, wherein the control circuit controls the current control transistor based on the voltage of the current detection element and supplies the constant current to the control terminal of the switching element, and detects an abnormality in the ON-drive constant-current circuit based on a voltage between the input terminal of the current control transistor and the output terminal of the current control transistor.