Patent ID: 7011197

Claim:
A clutch control system adapted for use on a vehicle having a frame and wheels and equipped with an engine selectively coupled through a clutch assembly to a manual transmission so as to drive the vehicle at selected speed, said clutch assembly having an enabled state wherein the engine and the transmission are coupled and a disabled state wherein the engine and the transmission are not coupled, said transmission including a plurality of gear states and including a gearshift lever movable among a plurality of gearshift positions each corresponding to a selected one of the gear states, said clutch control system comprising: (A) a gearshift lever sensor mechanically coupled to said gearshift lever and operative to sense at least one of the gearshift positions corresponding to a selected one of the gear states and to produce a gear state signal indicative thereof; (B) a monitor device operative to produce a speed signal indicative of the speed of the vehicle; (C) a selectively actuable latch mechanism associated with said clutch assembly and having a unlock state that allows said clutch assembly to move from the disabled state to the enabled state and a lock state that prevents said clutch assembly from moving from the disabled state to the enabled state; and (D) a controller operative in response to said gear state signal and said speed signal to place said latch mechanism in the lock state when the speed of the vehicle is above a pre-selected maximum speed for the selected one of the gear states.