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Advanced electronics is applied to suspension, engine mount, and power steering systems to realize vehicle performance which would be impossible to achieve using only mechanical components. Superb compatibility is established between soft riding comfort and sharp controllability; reduced body vibration at engine idle and body shock at start-up or gear change; light steering effort at low speed and reliable road feel at high speed. Fail-safe mechanisms arc incorporated in the event of system failure and a central diagnostic terminal is provided for system checking.

While setting the spring constant and the damping coefficient to small values provide a car with good, soft riding comfort on well-paved roads, it causes poor road-holding characteristics on rough roads and large attitude variations during cornering, acceleration and deceleration. Moreover, it compromises the accident avoidance performance and the high speed directional stability. We have overcome these problems by developing the ELECTRONIC-CONTROLLED SUSPENSION (ECS) which normally responds softly but increases the spring constant and the damping coefficient automatically when running at high speed, cornering, accelerating or decelerating.