Honda HR-V: Improvement Control In Practical Use Fuel Consumption System Description - Effective Control

The control system for improved fuel economy in actual traffic aims at disseminating eco-driving. It consists of an effective control system, ambient illumination and instantaneous fuel consumption indicator. The effective control system is activated by operating the ECON switch to set the ECON ON mode. The PGM-FI system, the CVT control system, and the air conditioning (A/C) system control fuel consumption, which reduces the worsening of fuel consumption due to the driver's driving style and tries to improve of fuel consumption. The ambient illumination and instantaneous fuel consumption display function activate the light in the gauge control module to indicate the current operation status in real time, which encourages the driver to save fuel consumption.

This vehicle has an ECON ON mode specifically for controlling fuel economy improvements in actual traffic, in addition to the normal driving mode (ECON OFF mode). With the ECON ON mode, "effective control," in which fuel consumption is improved by the PGM-FI system, the CVT control system, and the air conditioning system, is performed. When the driver operates the ECON switch in ECON OFF mode, the signal is input in the gauge control module and the signal switching to the ECON ON mode is sent to the PCM and A/C control unit through the F-CAN and B-CAN from the gauge control module. According to this signal, each unit transitions to effective control. In this step, the PCM directs the signal to the gauge control module through the F-CAN so as to control the lighting of the ECON indicator. When the driver operates the ECON switch in the ECON ON mode (during effective control), the mode is changed from ECON ON to ECON OFF. In this step, the signal is sent in the same flow as when the mode is transitioning from ECON OFF to ECON ON, and each system that received the signal stops the effective control. In addition, the status of the ECON ON/OFF mode is stored in the gauge control module and this status will be kept when the vehicle is set to OFF (LOCK) mode.

Change of ETCS system control

The ECON ON mode softens throttle valve control to reduce fuel consumption when the accelerator pedal is roughly depressed. Also, throttle opening becomes slow in comparison with the ECON OFF mode. However, if the accelerator pedal is depressed more than a certain level in the ECON ON mode, control automatically becomes equivalent to the ECON OFF mode in order to ensure the acceleration.

Transmission Control System

• Change in shift map allocation against accelerator full pedal depression
• Moderation of gear change responsiveness

Air Conditioning (A/C) System

• Switching to the recirculation mode
• Reduction in compressor operation frequency
• Lower flow rate

Ambient Meter Function

The ambient meter function evaluates the driver's driving from a fuel consumption perspective and displays its information via the ambient meter in the gauge control module.

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