Patent ID: 7957876

Claim:
A deceleration control apparatus for a vehicle that applies a deceleration to the vehicle based on a vehicle running environment parameter, comprising: a determining device that determines a manner in which a driver performs an operation for decelerating the vehicle based on a comparison of a detected value and a predetermined value where the detected value is determined based on 1) a detected distance between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle and 2) a present speed of the vehicle; a setting device that sets a deceleration, that is smaller than a deceleration usually achieved by a brake operation performed by a driver, as a guard value to be applied to the vehicle by the deceleration control apparatus; and a changing device that changes the deceleration that is set as a guard value based on the manner in which the driver performs the operation for decelerating the vehicle where the guard value is changed when the detected value differs from the predetermined value, wherein the deceleration control apparatus applies the deceleration by performing a downshift control and the guard value is a highest gear ratio that can be selected during the downshift control.