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Environmental awareness has increased on a global scale which pushed for a heavier demand for weight reduction and high transmission efficiency on manual transmissions (hereafter referred to as the “MT”) in improving vehicle driving and fuel economy performance. Comfortable shift feel is also continuously in demand by the customer because its sensitive performance can be directly recognized by the driver which may determine the transmission’s merchantability. The newly developed 6-speed MT (hereafter referred to as the “6MT”) has achieved size reduction (compact size), weight reduced, better fuel efficiency, and improvement in the shift feel which will continue to maintain its’ competitiveness in the future.

With the increasing demand for vehicle ride comfort, analysis of roll or lateral vehicle behavior in addition to the bounce or pitching behavior can provide further understanding for ride comfort evaluation. In this paper, vehicle behaviors over rough roads are analyzed by dynamics motion equations with additional specific road input. After consideration of this analytical model, it is confirmed that suspension and tire characteristics should be divided into slip angle change due to lateral and vertical force or stroke. Also, the effects of each characteristic to vehicle behavior are clarified at each vehicle velocity range by both calculations and experiments.

The driver's response is an important consideration for developing an advanced vehicle control system. Drivers' response to vehicle motion was investigated here using a rotary type electric active suspension system that could control roll, pitch, and bounce. The system allowed control of vehicle attitude and ride comfort based on an inertial input and road input with sky-hook logic. Drivers' reaction differences when subjected to both smaller and larger roll angles produced by the active suspension were examined.