Patent ID: 8903594

Claim:
A driving diagnosis apparatus for use in a vehicle, in which a fuel cutoff operation is performed in an accelerator OFF state of the vehicle, the OFF state indicates that the accelerator is not being depressed, such that (i) fuel supply to an internal combustion engine is stopped when a rotation speed of the engine is higher than a predetermined fuel cutoff speed, and (ii) the fuel supply to the engine is started again when the rotation speed of the engine is equal to or lower than a predetermined set speed lower than the predetermined fuel cutoff speed, the apparatus comprising: an accelerator operation detection section that detects an operation of an accelerator of a vehicle; a speed acquisition section that acquires a travel speed of the vehicle; a lapse time measurement section that measures lapse time of the accelerator OFF state based on a detection result of the accelerator operation detection section; a lapse time storage section that stores, in a memory unit, the lapse time measured by the lapse time measurement section up to a time point, at which the travel speed of the vehicle acquired by the speed acquisition section becomes equal to or lower than a predetermined pre-stop speed that indicates a travel speed of the vehicle driven by the engine rotating at the predetermined set speed; and a lapse time determination section that determines the lapse time stored in the memory unit as a required stopping time when the travel speed acquired from the speed acquisition section is equal to or lower than a predetermined stop speed that is smaller than the predetermined pre-stop speed, the required stopping time indicating a time length of inertia travel of the vehicle under the fuel cutoff operation reflecting fuel efficient driving, wherein the lapse time measurement section continues to measure the lapse time until the travel speed falls to the predetermined stop speed, if the accelerator remains in the accelerator OFF state, the lapse time storage section updates the lapse time stored in the memory unit each time the travel speed acquired from the travel speed acquisition section becomes equal to or lower than the predetermined pre-stop speed as long as the lapse time measurement section continues to measure the lapse time of the accelerator OFF state, and the lapse time determination section determines the required stopping time based on the lapse time updated immediately before the lapse time measurement section stops measurement of the lapse time at an end of the accelerator OFF state.