A 3-DOF dynamical model of vehicle is built in this paper by using MATLAB/Simulink. Considering nonlinear tyre performance, the magic formula tyre model is used to improve the accuracy of the model. For the difficulty of measuring the roll angle and roll rate, an observer for the roll angle and roll rate based on the dynamical model of vehicle and kinematic relations is designed in this paper, tracking the roll angle and roll rate in the process of driving based on the easily measured status parameters, using unscented Kalman filter. Then, this method is tested through experiments. Finally, based on the estimated roll angle and roll rate, a roll stability controller based on the sliding model variable structure control theory is designed.