A study of various car anti-lock braking systems

The braking performance of cars equipped with six different anti-lock braking systems has been assessed. The performance with the anti-lock systems functioning has been compared to that with the systems disabled. Straight line braking tests have been conducted on a range of single (that is uniform) surfaces. Similar surfaces have also been used for braking-on-a-curve tests. Tests have also been performed on split high/low grip boundary surfaces. In all tests heavy, emergency type, braking was applied and the initial speed and stopping distance measured. A note was also taken of the rotational stability of the vehicle under such conditions of heavy braking. The vehicles were tested both unladen and fully laden, and over the initial speed range of 20 - 100 km/h. All the anti-lock systems provided a high degree of vehicle stability and controllability under all test conditions. The deceleration characteristics of each system were found to be closely related to their degree of complexity and cost. A brief analysis of real life accident data indicates that all the anti-lock systems tested have a potential to reduce the number and severity of road accidents.