Patent ID: 7988243

Claim:
A brake system, comprising: a braking force application mechanism that presses a friction member against a braked member to apply a braking force to a wheel of a vehicle; and a control unit that calculates an index that indicates a difference between an expected braking effectiveness and an actual braking effectiveness, corrects a target value, which is set to control a pressing force of the friction member, in accordance with the index, to reduce variation between the actual braking effectiveness and the expected braking effectiveness of the vehicle, and changes a variation range depending upon whether a factor that causes the difference is a temporary factor or a long-term factor, wherein the control unit uses the variation range to limit an available variation in a correction amount to correct the target value and, the temporary factor and long-term factor respectively cause the difference on a short-term and long-term basis, wherein the control unit expands the variation range, when the difference between the expected braking effectiveness and the actual braking effectiveness is increased by the temporary factor that arises in the course of using the vehicle, and wherein the control unit detects an increase in a vehicle weight as the temporary factor, and sets a larger variation range after the increase in the vehicle weight is eliminated, as compared with the variation range before the increase in the vehicle weight.