"CES delivers a comfortable ride without sacrificing the safety of sure handling,” claims Tenneco Automotive chairman and CEO Mark P. Frissora.

He describes CES as a semi-active suspension system that continuously adjusts damping levels according to road conditions; vehicle dynamics, such as speed, turning and cornering and driver inputs.

The system uses shock absorbers with dampers developed by Tenneco Automotive and continuously variable electro-mechanical valves developed by Ohlins Racing. Valve adjustments occur rapidly (typically within 10 milliseconds) to produce different damping forces. The adjustment speed is said to provide effective control of wheel resonant vibrations up to 20 Hz, for wheel hop frequency control as well as body frequency control.

The electronic control unit in the CES system processes driver inputs and data from sensors placed at key locations on the vehicle. The sensors include three accelerometers mounted on the vehicle body and four suspension position sensors that feed data to the ECU on steering wheel angle, vehicle speed, brake pressure and other chassis control information.

Control software in the ECU processes sensor information in real time and sends signals that adjust the damping level of each shock absorber valve independently.