VEHICLE CAPABLE OF CHANGING VEHICLE CHARACTERISTICS

A vehicle capable of changing vehicle characteristic comprising a vehicle characteristic selecting/setting portion for setting the vehicle characteristic to a free arbitrary characteristic, the vehicle being capable of traveling under a characteristic set by said vehicle characteristic selecting/setting portion.

The vehicle capable of changing vehicle characteristic according to claim 1 wherein said vehicle characteristic is at least one of engine characteristic, steering characteristic, A/T shift pattern, suspension characteristic, steering wheel shaft angle, steering wheel longitudinal position, sheet position and side mirror position.

A vehicle capable of changing vehicle characteristic comprising:

plural vehicle characteristic setting portions for setting the vehicle characteristic to a free arbitrary

a vehicle characteristic memory portion for memorizing said set vehicle characteristic; and

a vehicle characteristic setting selection portion for selecting an arbitrary vehicle characteristic from said vehicle characteristic memory portion.

The vehicle capable of changing vehicle characteristic according to claim 3 wherein said vehicle characteristic setting selection portion is capable of changing over a vehicle adjustment mechanism adjustable depending on the taste or body size of a vehicle driver as personal data of every vehicle driver.

The vehicle capable of changing vehicle characteristic according to claim 3 wherein said vehicle characteristic setting selection portion is an independent unit and transmits memory data from said vehicle characteristic memory portion based on a setting of said vehicle characteristic setting selection portion to each control unit for controlling the vehicle characteristic.

The vehicle capable of changing vehicle characteristic according to claim 3 wherein each control unit for controlling the vehicle characteristic comprises:

a default characteristic memory portion for memorizing a default characteristic set up upon production;

a setting characteristic determining portion for determining whether the setting of said vehicle characteristic setting portion is valid or invalid; and

a selection switch which is changed over by said setting characteristic determining portion.

The vehicle capable of changing vehicle characteristic according to claim 6 wherein when said setting characteristic determining portion determines that it is valid, said selection switch is changed over to transmit the setting data of said vehicle characteristic setting portion to each of said control units, and when said setting characteristic determining portion determines that it is invalid, said selection switch is changed over to transmit memory data of said default characteristic memory portion to each of said control units.

A control apparatus of electric power steering unit for controlling a motor so as to provide a steering mechanism with steering assistance force based on a current instruction value computed based on a steering assist instruction value computed based on a steering torque generated in a steering shaft and a motor current detection value, said control apparatus further comprising a steering characteristic setting means which enables a vehicle driver to set up a steering characteristic arbitrarily and controlling said motor based on a steering characteristic set up by the steering characteristic setting means.

The control apparatus of electric power steering unit according to claim 8 further comprising:

plural steering characteristic memory means for memorizing each steering characteristic set up by said steering characteristic setting means; and

a steering characteristic selecting means for selecting a desired steering characteristic from said memorized plural kinds of the steering characteristics.

The control apparatus of electric power steering unit according to claim 8 or 9 further comprising:

a default characteristic memory means for memorizing a default steering characteristic set up upon production; and

a setting characteristic determining means for determining whether said steering characteristic is valid or invalid with reference to a preliminarily specif ied safety standard, wherein when said setting characteristic determining means determines that it is invalid, said motor is controlled based on said default steering characteristic.

The control apparatus of electric power steering unit according to claim 9 or 10 wherein a steering characteristic setting/selecting unit containing at least said steering characteristic setting means and the steering characteristic selecting means is connected to a current instruction arithmetic operating portion for computing said current instruction value through serial communication.

The control apparatus of electric power steering unit according to any of Claims 8 to 11 wherein said steering characteristic includes at least input/output characteristic and vehicle velocity responses characteristic.

The control apparatus of electric power steering unit according to any of Claims 8 to 12 wherein GUI is employed as said steering characteristic setting means.

The vehicle capable of changing vehicle characteristic according to any of Claims 1 to 7 loaded with the control apparatus of electric power steering unit described in any of Claims 8 to 13.