Abstract A continuous saturated controller using smooth saturation functions is established for MacPherson active suspension system which includes nonlinear uncertainties, unknown road excitations, and bounded disturbances. The developed controller exploits the properties of the hyperbolic functions to guarantee saturation limits are not exceeded, while stability analysis procedures of the robust integral of the sign of the error (RISE) control technique utilize the advantages of high gain control strategies in compensating for unknown uncertainties. The saturated controller guarantees asymptotic regulation of the sprung mass acceleration to improve the ride comfort despite model uncertainties and additive disturbances in the dynamics. Simulation results demonstrate the improvement in the ride comfort while tire deflection and the suspension deflection are within admissible range in comparison with three other suspensions.