Description (page 2 of 2)

To be able to guarantee the greatest driving comfort, electronics has been employed to control the two parameters which have the greatest bearing on the efficiency of the suspension system: - “flexibility” on which depend both the capacity of the suspension to absorb the irregularities of the ground and the vehicle trim in relation to its load. Flexibility is normally ensured by springs and in part by the flexible elements such as stabilizer bars, bushings, buffers etc. - damping which reduces the elasticity of the springs forms the element on which any intervention must be made to gain “soft” or “hard” suspension. A high degree of suspension favours road holding while reduced damping ensures greater comfort. In order to overcome the compromise between comfort and road holding, the vehicles in the 167 range, equipped with a controlled damping suspension system, can be characterized by the two different ways of intervening on the suspension system: 1. “AUTO” condition From the two available conditions, the “AUTO” condition is the one which offers the greatest degree of functionality. It exploits both setting levels, switching from one to the other on the basis of the driving conditions. The “AUTO” condition, without detracting from the level of road holding, ensures a high degree of driving comfort. After the driver has pressed the relative button on the control panel, the system operates as follows: - for speeds below 5 kph, the setting of the shock absorbers is kept to the greatest degree of rigidity in order to avoid an annoying rocking motion when driving off. - for speeds between 5 kph and the town speed limits, the shock absorbers are set and maintained at the greatest level of comfort, in order to overcome the irregularities in the road surface which characterize urban driving. - for speeds which are higher than the urban limits, the system is set to the greatest degree comfort but will automatically switch to the greater rigidity in the following situations: - sudden changes in direction. - tight mountain bends. - humps and irregularities which cause an excessive rocking of the vehicle body. When the conditions which caused the switch to the rigid setting have ended the system returns automatically to the soft setting. The system sensors (steering angle and rotation speed, vertical accelerometer, braking sensor, speedometer sensor) intervene according to the instantaneous speed of the vehicle in order to optimize driving safety. - For high speeds, the system switches automatically and permanently to a particularly rigid setting of the shock absorbers which permits the maximum performance of the vehicle to be exploited under sports driving conditions with guaranteed safety. 2. “SPORT” condition The “SPORT” condition maintains a rigid setting of the suspension system in order to confer to the vehicle a sports behavior.