Patent ID: 8544930

Claim:
A tailgate damping system for controlling movement of a tailgate assembly of a vehicle, the tailgate damping system comprising: a speed sensor that provides rotational speed information of the tailgate assembly; a controller that receives the rotational speed information from the speed sensor; a damping control assembly that receives a tailgate shaft of the tailgate assembly, the damping control assembly comprising a housing comprising: a rotor chamber including a rotor member located therein, the rotor member connected to a rotor shaft that is coupled to the tailgate shaft; and a valve chamber including a control valve located therein; a fluid reservoir that is in fluid communication with the damping control assembly for delivering a damping fluid to the damping control assembly; and a pump that pumps the damping fluid from the fluid reservoir to the damping control assembly; wherein the controller closes the control valve to inhibit exit of the damping fluid from the rotor chamber based on the speed information received from the speed sensor.