Apparatus and method for maintaining braking force of vehicle

摘要

A braking force maintaining apparatus executes hill-hold control in which braking force applied to each of wheels of a vehicle is maintained by a braking device even after release of a brake pedal. An electronic control unit determines whether the yaw rate of the vehicle is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold value and whether the wheels are held in a locked state by the braking force applied by the braking device. If the wheels are held in the locked state and the yaw rate is greater than or equal to the threshold value, the electronic control unit controls the braking device in such a manner that the braking force acting on two or more of wheels including at least a specific wheel falls below the braking force at the start of the hill-hold control. The specific wheel is one of steered wheels that corresponds to an outer wheel when the steered wheels are steered through manipulation of the steering wheel intended to correct an offset posture of the vehicle that causes generation of the yaw rate.