A control apparatus for an industrial vehicle is disclosed. The vehicle has a rear axle that is swingable upon a straight travel of the vehicle and fixed upon a turning of the vehicle. A damper locks or unlocks the rear axle. A controller has a memory that stores a first value and a second value of an angular velocity rate that represents an angular velocity per a unit time. The controller activates or deactivates the damper. The controller activates the damper to lock the rear axle when the angular velocity rate is greater than the first value. The controller deactivates the damper to unlock the rear axle when the angular velocity rate is kept smaller than the second value for a predetermined time period after the angular velocity rate has become smaller than the second value. <IMAGE>
