Grade angle and acceleration sensor

A grade and acceleration sensor (10) having a weight (26,66), a first sensor (46,80) for measuring a first parameter of the weight due at least to the force of gravity to generate a first signal, a second sensor (50,88) for measuring a second parameter of the weight due to both the force of gravity and the acceleration of the vehicle (12,14) on which the sensor (10) is mounted to generate a second signal, a grade angle generator (48,84) generating the grade angle theta in response to the first and second signal, and an acceleration generation (52,96) generating a signal having a value corresponding to the acceleration of the vehicle in response to the first and second signals. In a first embodiment, the weight is a bob (26) of a pendulum (20), the first parameter is a displacement angle of the bob (26) due to acceleration and gravity and the second parameter is the force on the arm (30) of the bob (26) due to gravity and acceleration. In a second embodiment, the first parameter is force generated by a weight (66) due to gravity along a first axis and the second parameter is the force generated by the weight (66) due to acceleration and gravity along a second axis normal to the first axis.