Control device for the tailgate of a vehicle

Abstract

Control device for opening and / or closing a motor-operated tailgate of a vehicle and an actuating device for triggering the opening and closing process, characterized in that, when the side doors are closed, the closing command for the open tailgate, in addition to being triggered by the actuating device, is issued automatically when a side door is opened and these parameters are defined in the control device.

Description

The invention relates to a control device for opening and / or closing a motor-movable tailgate of a vehicle and an actuating device for triggering the opening and closing process.It is known from DE 44 07 131 A1 to control the opening and closing of the two wings in a two-part tailgate as a function of one another. For example, when opening or closing and locking the upper wing, the lower wing is automatically unlocked and lowered or raised and locked.A dependence between two side doors of a special vehicle can be taken from DE 85 25 752 U1.DE 103 16 306 A1 discloses a control device for opening a tailgate moved by a motor, having an actuating device for triggering the opening process. In this case, a triggering criterion (distance from the vehicle or from the tailgate) is defined with two distance ranges, which are stored in a control unit, wherein the tailgate is unlocked within a first distance range when the actuating device is actuated, and wherein the tailgate is automatically opened provided that a vehicle user with the actuating device is within a second distance range.DE 199 39 651 C2 discloses monitoring the closing process of openings in motor vehicles. In this method, the type of a release of a closing command by means of remote control or key switches is taken into account in order to activate different sensitivity parameters as closing parameters for a pinch protection device depending on the type of release of the closing command.DE 100 01 415 C1 discloses a method for controlling a door lock. In order to meet customer requirements and / or legal regulations, different control parameters can be defined for different operating and / or locking states of door locks.Furthermore, in connection with a tailgate, it is generally known to open or close the tailgate, for example by an electric drive. In order to trigger these processes, the vehicle user must actuate an operating unit, usually a switch. In this case, the switch for closing the tailgate is usually arranged on the tailgate itself or in the immediate vicinity of the tailgate.The invention is based on the object of further simplifying the operation of a motor-movable tailgate.The object is achieved in that the closing and / or opening process of the tailgate takes place automatically in accordance with predetermined parameters in addition to being triggered by the actuating device, wherein the parameters can be fixed in the control device. Thus, a separate actuating device no longer has to be triggered for opening / closing the tailgate. Rather, the tailgate movement command is derived from another event. The parameters for this other event or events can be stored in the control device for the tailgate, for example, by input units present in the vehicle. The vehicle user is reserved to enable or disable the device. In the activation case, the user can optionally choose from among several alternatives.This often means no additional construction outlay, since in most modern vehicles the signals necessary for the present purpose are present anyway.According to the invention, the opening states of all doors are detected as parameters. When all the side doors of the vehicle except the tailgate are closed, the closing command for the tailgate is performed when a side door is opened. This side door is preferably the driver's door of the vehicle. This configuration increases the comfort, for example when the vehicle user walks on the vehicle, for example by means of a remote control opening the tailgate and loading it. After the loading, the tailgate can be closed without actuating an operating unit only by opening the driver's door, that is to say when entering.In addition to the solution described above, many further combination possibilities are conceivable. For example, the tailgate can be closed when the ignition is switched on and / or the engine of the vehicle is started.On the other hand, it is of course also possible that, when the tailgate is open and the driver door is open, the tailgate is automatically closed if the driver door is closed and locked cumulatively. Such a control covers the case that, when the vehicle leaves (driver's door is locked), the tailgate is also closed.It is especially in connection with the control device according to the invention that a pinch protection device is arranged on the tailgate in a manner known per se.

Claims

Control device for opening and / or closing a motor-movable tailgate of a vehicle and an actuating device for triggering the opening and closing process, characterized in that, when the side doors are closed, the closing command for the opened tailgate, in addition to being triggered by the actuating device, takes place automatically when a side door is opened, and these parameters are fixed in the control device.Control device according to Claim 1, characterized in that the side door is the driver's door of the vehicle.Control device according to one of Claims 1 to 2, characterized in that the tailgate is closed when the ignition is switched on and / or the engine of the vehicle is started.Control device according to one of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, when the tailgate is open and the driver door of the vehicle is open, the tailgate is automatically closed if the driver door is closed and locked cumulatively.Control device according to one of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that a pinch protection device is arranged on the tailgate.