Patent ID: 8571749

Claim:
A grille control mechanism for a vehicle, comprising: a movable members which is switchable between an opened position for allowing an ambient air to flow into a radiator provided at the vehicle and a closed position for inhibiting or restricting the ambient air from flowing into the radiator; an electric motor which actuates the movable member; and a control means which controls an electric current to be supplied to the electric motor by supplying the electric current to the electric motor until the control means detects a lock current value, in order to selectively execute one of an opening operation for moving the movable member to the opened position and a closing operation for moving the movable member to the closed position, wherein when the control means determines that a time required for detecting the lock current value exceeds a predetermined time, the control means executes a checking operation, the checking operation including returning the movable member to an initial position where the movable member is located when the one of the selectively executed opening and closing operations is started, and executing once again one of the selectively executed opening operation and the closing operation, and the control means determines an operation state of the movable member is an abnormal state when a time for detecting the lock current value after the one of the selectively executed opening and closing operation is started after the movable member is returned to the initial position in the checking operation exceeds the predetermined time for a predetermined number of times.