Abstract: In a method of controlling an automatic clutch disposed between a motor, especially an internal combustion engine, and the drive train of a vehicle which includes an arbitrarily operable transmission, the clutch is engaged in dependence on the torque generated by the motor in such a manner that the torque which can be transmitted by the clutch is only slightly above the motor-generated torque and, immediately after a transmission ratio change, the clutch is first fully engaged for the transmission of maximum torque if the motor torque exceeds a certain threshold value.

Abstract: In an internal combustion engine with at least two groups of cylinders of which each has an exhaust pipe with a catalytic converter and of which one group can be shut down so that it is inoperative during part-load engine operation, the exhaust pipes are joined downstream of the catalytic converters by a common pipe section, and vacuum generating means are provided for subjecting the exhaust pipe of the inoperative cylinder group upstream of its catalytic converter during part load operation when the one cylinder group is shut down to vacuum for pulling exhaust gas from the common pipe section into the catalytic converter of the inoperative cylinder group.

Abstract: A cruise control road speed control device provides an attenuating member connected between the speed control and the fuel injection volume adjusting member. The attenuating member feeds the controller output signal in a lower value range to the adjusting member after attenuation. This measure suppresses the undesired rpm oscillations and thus, even with cruise control operation at low engine loads, permits satisfactory driving comfort without perceptible juddering effects. The cruise control can be used for controlling the road speed of commercial vehicles with Diesel engines and automatic transmissions.

Abstract: A safety arrangement in the leg room of a motor vehicle has a strut of a suspension for the tube of a safety steering column hanging down from a cross member into the leg room. A crash-caused bending of the strut is connected with a raising of the forward steering column tube end. A pedal assembly is arranged laterally next to the strut on a front wall of the vehicle body bounding the leg room in the front. In order to prevent an erection of the steering column tube caused by a shock impulse in the event of a crash of the motor vehicle with a rearward displacement of the pedal assembly, at least one laterally supporting deflecting device is arranged on the pedal assembly and/or on the strut, by way of which the pedal assembly is guided past the strut.

Abstract: A beverage vessel holder is provided for vehicles having a housing integrated into a vehicle part, such as the dashboard, center armrest or the like. A beverage vessel receiving device is axially slidable in the housing and has insertion openings for the inserting of beverage vessels. A beverage vessel support is pivotally connected to the receiving device and carries a placing surface which supports the beverage vessels on the bottom side below the insertion openings and can be swivelled into the receiving device. For improving the stability of smaller-diameter beverage vessels in the aesthetically attractively constructed beverage vessel holder, the beverage vessel support hat a rectangular plate with at least one cup-shaped insertion indentation constructed therein coaxially with respect to the insertion opening in the receiving device. On two opposite sides in the sliding direction of the receiving device, the plate is in each case pivotally connected on the bottom edge of a transverse web.

Abstract: The invention relates to a fuel injection system having an electrically actuatable injection pump which comprises a pre-stroke actuator for setting the start of injection and a flow rate actuator for setting the injection quantity. A control unit for controlling the injection quantity and start of injection emits an actuation signal which starts injection to the flow rate actuator, and an actuation signal for the start of injection to the pre-stroke actuator via an output lead for the actuation signal for the start of injection. According to the invention, the control unit protects the pre-stroke actuator against a short-circuit on the output lead by monitoring the control deviation at the start of injection between the actual value for the start of injection (detected by means of a needle movement sensor) and a desired value for the start of injection, which fixed as a function of the engine operating point.

Abstract: A rack-and-pinion steering system has a rack which is toothed on two sides and cooperates with two pinions. At least one of the pinions can be axially translated in dependence on forces acting between the rack and that pinion. This axial translation controls a clutch arrangement so that a servomotor continuously rotating in one direction can in each case be nonpositively coupled to one of the pinions or uncoupled from both pinions.

Abstract: In a hydrodynamic heat generator for a motor vehicle with an internal combustion engine having a cooling water circuit with a circulating pump, the hydrodynamic heat generator comprises a generator housing part which is integrated with a pump housing part and defines a water space which is in communication with the pumping space and includes a bladed rotor and a bladed stator firmly supported in the generator housing part adjacent the water space and an electromagnetic clutch for engagement of the bladed rotor with a drive shaft which extends through the heat generator housing part into the pump housing part and carries, at its end in the pump housing part, an impeller for circulating the cooling water.

Abstract: A hardtop vehicle is provided with a roof construction having a forward roof part and a rear window part, which roof construction can be swivelled from a closing position resting against the area of a forward windshield frame into an opening position toward the rear area of the vehicle body, placed in a top compartment and this top compartment can be covered by means of a swivellable rear opening device. On the rear opening device, an auxiliary frame is provided which can be moved around a pivot bearing fixed to the body and which, when the rear opening device is closed, is supported on the vehicle body by at least one additional supporting connection.

Abstract: A seat adjusting switch assembly for vehicle seats includes manual setting and display elements for accommodating changes in seat part positions and for programmed seat part positions. In a first condition of the seat adjusting switch, only the memory setting and display elements are visible and operable by a vehicle occupant and, in a second condition, all setting and display elements are visible and operable, the first and second conditions being settable by the occupant.

Abstract: In an arrangement for the cyclic adaptation of a characteristic for the changes in an automatic gearbox, a gear-change strategy which determines correction values by an algorithm that correlates external influencing variables and by a process involving evaluation of measured actual values of the influencing variables is used to adapt the characteristic both in the direction of the coordinate indicating a parameter dependent on the speed of travel and in the direction of the coordinate indicating a parameter associated with the engine torque. The process of adaptation is performed as a function of respectively associated correction values.

Abstract: An injector with solenoid-valve control provided for diesel internal-combustion engines has a lateral fuel delivery conduit into a pressure accumulator reaching, on one hand, as far as the needle seat of a nozzle needle and on the other hand as far as a piston arranged on the rear side of the nozzle needle. A control space in the injector is connected by a controllable solenoid valve to the pressure accumulator or, for pressure relief, to a low-pressure conduit. A fuel filter is arranged in the pressure accumulator in the mouth region of the fuel delivery conduit.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus are provided for operating a diesel engine with an exhaust feedback device located between the exhaust line and the intake air line, with an adjusting element that can be operated by an adjusting drive actuated by an auxiliary force to operate the exhaust feedback device as a function of signals from an electronic control device. An engine regulator permits rich/lean regulation of the diesel engine as a function of its operating parameters. A storage catalyst is located in the exhaust line, in which catalyst oxides of nitrogen (NO.sub.x) can be adsorbed, desorbed, and reduced. A sensor is located downstream from the storage catalyst for detecting the NO.sub.x concentration in the exhaust stream in such fashion that when an NO.sub.x storage threshold value is reached that varies in terms of its characteristics as a function of the rpm and the load, a switch is made from operation with a lambda value of larger than 1 to operation with a lambda value of less than 1.

Abstract: Vehicle bodies having a mounting frame fastened to a floor frame lead to damage to the mounted assemblies and floor frame when, for example, the engine assembly is arranged directly adjacent to the vehicle front or rear side. It is proposed to provide a crossmember of the mounting frame as a member for the bumper and to provide in the side members, in the region of the other crossmember, deformation zones which, in the event of a collision at relatively low speed, allow a displacement of the entire mounting frame together with the built-in assemblies, without the floor frame being damaged. The mounting frame is usable for vehicles with a rear or front engine.

Abstract: The invention provides a vehicle security device with an electronic use-authorization coding arrangement for preventing unauthorized access to the vehicle. The vehicle security device utilizes digital signature algorithm for encrypting and transmitting authorization and synchronization information, so that the storage of secret information is essential only at the key unit in order to transmit authorization and/or synchronizing information from the key unit to the vehicle unit in a way which is very effectively protected against falsification. Thus, reading out vehicle unit information does not permit unauthorized manufacture of a copied key.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for limiting the speed of a motor vehicle in which the power applied to the vehicle wheels is controlled even when the actual speed is within a range of permitted speeds, but a speed demanded by the driver is in a speed range to be avoided. By way of the control intervention, the actual speed is, in this case, brought to the limiting speed in accordance with a specified open-loop control characteristic. When the actual speed is near the limiting speed, the system switches over to an open-loop speed-control, and when the speed demanded by the driver is within the range of permitted speeds, this requirement of the driver is used to determine the speed.

Abstract: A headlamp cleaning arrangement for a motor vehicle has a telescopically extendable nozzle which extends through an opening in the outer wall of the motor vehicle in an area near the headlamp. The opening in the outer wall has a cover which is pivotably mounted near a lower rim of the opening in the outer wall and is held in a closed position by a spring arrangement. When the nozzle arrangement is extending into its operative position to clean the headlamp, the nozzle arrangement pushes the cover, causing it to pivot open.

Abstract: The invention relates to an effect paint for objects to be painted, as well as to a process for making the effect paint, wherein the effect paint comprises pigments. The pigments, produced by fragmenting a wiped and cross-linked film, are added to a starting paint of a paint coat of the object and result in color effect which depends on the viewing angle, and are also provided with a marking used to recognize and characterize the object.

Abstract: An adjusting arrangement for adjusting the slope of a swivellably connected casing tube of a steering spindle of a motor vehicle comprises a supporting device which is disposed on the vehicle body and with which the casing tube is connected by way of a spindle drive by means of which the casing tube can be adjusted with respect to the vehicle body. At least one steering lever having two mutually spaced, parallel swivel shafts acts between the casing tube and the vehicle body, of which one swivel shaft is assigned to the supporting device and the other swivel shaft forms a component of the spindle drive, and the spindle drive takes over the function of the steering lever.

Abstract: In a pipe coupling between first and second pipe sections having end areas received within one another, one of the end areas has radial projections which are arranged circumferentially around its outer or inner circumference and extend toward the inner or outer surface of the other end area which has a smooth cylindrical surface adjacent the projections to permit sliding and some tilting of the pipe sections relative to each other.