The ARTS is examining whether ABS brakes should be mandatory on heavy vehicles
By Gary Worrall
The Australian Road Transport Suppliers Association (ARTS) is examining whether ABS brakes should be mandatory on heavy vehicle as part of a review into setting minimum standards for trailer brakes.
Through its Braking and Stability College, ARTSA is looking into standardising ABS given trailers in China, the United States and Europe are already required to run ABS brake systems.
While there is support for the move, some operators have sounded a warning on its widespread introduction, pointing out concerns over serviceability in field operations.
Truck manufacturers are in favour of the introduction of at least ABS brakes, pointing to the work that has been done in recent years to improve the braking performance of heavy vehicles.
European trucks routinely offer both ABS and EBS brakes, while many also include Electronic Brakeforce Distribution and some form of roll stability control or electronic stability control as part of an upgraded safety package.
The effect of these advances is to imbue car-like levels of braking performance to fully laden semi-trailers and B-doubles, provided the trailers are fitted with similar ‘smart’ brakes to the prime mover.
Benz Product and Sales Engineer Romesh Rodrigo says there are a number of issues to be considered before any decision is made on including specific items into an industry-wide brake package.
From a Mercedes Benz perspective he would support any moves to introduce a higher level of technology, however this is tempered by the inconsistencies between European and American manufacturers.
“I would not mandate EBS necessarily, but I would be looking for better performance from heavy vehicle braking systems,” he says. “To achieve this you may include EBS, but not specifically.”
Rodrigo says before any final decisions could be made on a minimum brake specification, regulators would need to address the issue of what power supply is required, with major variances currently in place.
Previously, regulators mandated prime movers be fitted with a 12-volt ABS system, however when the rules were framed for ADR 35/02 they did not specify the connection between truck and trailer, giving rise to the situation where a truck could have a 24-volt power supply connected to a trailer running 12-volt power.
“Most European trucks are running 24-volt power, but American trucks use 12-volt power, and most of the trailers in the Australian fleet are built with 12-volt power for compatibility reasons,” he explains.
Even the age of the local trailer fleet needed to be considered, he says, with many operating trailers constructed in the 1970s and 1980s, before there were regulations covering brake and power systems.
More on the debate over trailer brake standards in the October edition of ATN magazine, out next week.