Description and Operation - Active Grille Shutter - Overview

Overview

The Active Grille Shutter System is primarily used for fuel economy by reducing aerodynamic drag while the vehicle is in motion. It is also used to reduce engine warm-up time, which improves engine efficiency and provides faster heat to the passenger compartment. The active grille shutter actuator receives position commands from the PCM through LIN.

The active grille shutter system consists of a set of shutters, linkage hardware and an actuator.

The active grille shutter system performs a self-calibration sequence at every engine start, fully opening and closing the shutters before moving to the desired open position requested by the PCM. It is also active in HEV vehicles during charging to provide airflow for HEV cabin air conditioning and cooling components while the vehicle is stationary.

On HEV vehicles, the desired active grille shutter position is requested by the SOBDMC and received by the PCM. The PCM sends the appropriate control signal to the active grille shutter actuator.

The vehicle may be equipped with a single or dual active grille shutter hardware system, depending on vehicle type, front end configuration and installed under-hood/powertrain hardware components. Each system uses a separate active grille shutter actuator, which can be controlled independently depending on system requirements, and provides its own diagnostic status to the PCM for monitoring.