Abstract: In a vehicle with a first operating mode in which all vehicle wheels have substantially no lateral movement on a road surface and a second operating mode in which at least some of the vehicle wheels have lateral movement on the road surface, and with an actuator capable of affecting vehicle yaw rate, a vehicle yaw rate control method comprising the steps of: measuring an actual vehicle yaw rate; measuring vehicle steering wheel position; in the second mode of operation, determining a desired yaw rate command linearly responsive to the measured steering wheel position; wherein the actuator is controlled to minimize a difference between the measured vehicle yaw rate and the desired vehicle yaw rate.

Abstract: A sensor-responsive control method for use on a motor vehicle, comprising the steps of: measuring a vehicle yaw rate; measuring a vehicle lateral acceleration; responsive to the measured yaw rate and lateral acceleration, estimating a steering wheel angle; determining an error signal responsive to the difference between the estimated steering wheel angle and an adaptive steering position signal; and updating the adaptive steering position signal responsive to the error signal, wherein the adaptive steering position signal is quickly determined after the vehicle begins to move.

Abstract: A comprehensive diagnostic for an active brake control system for automatically increasing braking at selected wheels of an automotive vehicle in response to detected vehicle turning maneuvers provides a hierarchy of diagnostic procedures for diagnosing local transducer and transducer circuit fault conditions, for diagnosing lack of correlation between transducers and subsystems, and for diagnosing low system level performance. Transducers or subsystems are isolated and indicated as the source of diagnosed low system performance to facilitate fault treatment procedures. Active brake control system authority is automatically reduced for at least the duration of diagnosed fault conditions.