Patent ID: 7613567

Claim:
A method for correcting outputs of a vehicle behavior sensor assembly of a vehicle control device including an electronic control unit, said vehicle behavior sensor assembly comprising a first acceleration sensor element for detecting an acceleration of a vehicle on which said vehicle control device is mounted in an X-axis direction in which the vehicle travels, and a second acceleration sensor element for detecting an acceleration of the vehicle in a Y-axis direction that is perpendicular to the X-axis direction, said electronic control unit being configured to control the behavior of the vehicle based on signals from said first and second acceleration sensor elements: said method comprising: mounting said sensor assembly on the vehicle in a predetermined positional relationship relative to the vehicle; keeping the vehicle in a stationary state with the X-axis and Y-axis directions horizontal; feeding a signal indicating that the vehicle is horizontal to said electronic control unit; detecting outputs from said first and second sensor elements, respectively, in response to said signal indicating that the vehicle is horizontal; calculating first and second deviation angles of sensing directions of said first and second sensor elements about said X-axis direction in a YZ plane that is perpendicular to said X-axis direction and about said Y-axis direction in an XZ plane that is perpendicular to said Y-axis direction based on said outputs from said first and second sensor elements, respectively; and correcting outputs of said first and second sensor elements based on said calculated first and second deviation angles and while the vehicle is traveling, wherein said sensor assembly is kept in said predetermined positional relationship relative to the vehicle during the correction of said outputs while the vehicle is traveling.