Patent ID: 8285443

Claim:
A controller for a vehicle equipped with an engine and a dehumidifier operated from a driving force of the engine to dehumidify the interior of the vehicle, the controller comprising: an engine controlling means which stops the engine in the case where a predetermined stop condition holds, and restarts the engine thereafter when a predetermined engine halt duration has elapsed; a vehicle condition detecting means which detects a condition under which the vehicle is placed; a fogging determination humidity estimating means which estimates a fogging determination humidity, which is a humidity not causing window glass of the vehicle to fog up under the condition detected by the vehicle condition detecting means; a humidity detecting means which detects the humidity in the interior of the vehicle; and an engine stop duration determining means which determines the engine stop duration on the basis of the humidity difference between the humidity detected by the humidity detecting means immediately before the engine is stopped and the fogging determination humidity, and which determines a longer engine stop duration as the humidity difference increases, wherein the engine controlling means restarts the engine and actuates the dehumidifier when the engine stop duration has elapsed following the stop condition being established and the engine stopped.