Patent ID: 6921139

Claim:
A method for controlling a braking device equipping a trailer vehicle, connected through a coupling device to a towing vehicle, the towing vehicle being itself equipped with a braking device provided with an actuation element, according to which method, when braking the towing vehicle: an intensity of a force induced in the coupling device is measured, at least at a given instant, then the measured intensity of the induced force at the given instant is compared with a target value determined beforehand and, when a difference between the measured intensity of the induced force and said target value deviates from a predetermined tolerated threshold, an actuation of braking elements of the trailer vehicle is initiated to influence the braking of said trailer vehicle, and the aforementioned steps of measuring, comparing, and initiating the braking are repeated until the difference between the measured intensity of the induced force and the target value is less than the predetermined tolerated threshold, wherein through monitoring, an instant starting from which the towing vehicle and the trailer vehicle are about to roll is detected, then, starting from that instant, at least in an intermittent way, the intensity of the force induced in the coupling device is measured and, for a period of measurement of predetermined duration, an average value of the intensity of the induced force is calculated and is stored, after completion of the storage of an average value, the steps of measuring, calculating a new average value then of storing this new average value, replacing the average value previously stored are repeated, with a view to initiating the actuation of the braking elements of the trailer vehicle at any chosen instant after the calculation of an average value, taken as the target value is the average value of the intensity of the induced force which has been calculated in the period of measurement preceding the instant chosen to initiate said braking.