Abstract: A method (10, 30) for actively controlling the temperature (tmotor) of an electric machine operating under torque (T*), speed and/or position control. A controlled output (T*), i.e. torque command, voltage, current or power, is adjusted such that the temperature of the electric machine does not exceed a predetermined reference limit (tref). The method (10, 30) of the present invention performs proportional-integral control (14) to reduce the commanded output (T*) to the motor and thereby prevent the steady-state motor temperature (tmotor) from increasing beyond the predetermined limit (tref). In one embodiment of the method (10), an error term (e) is filtered through a negative pass filter (12) before being combined with an optional decay term (&egr;decay) in a proportional-integral controller (14). A positive pass filter (20) and a negative pass filter (22) provide outputs that are summed and provide an adjusted output command (Tlimited) based upon predetermined relationship.