Land Rover wants to improve the widely used automatic braking system (ABS),
which keeps braking pressures below the threshold at which wheels start to lock
up and the car skids out of control (GB 2360336). During normal braking, a car’s
weight throws it forward onto the front wheels. This means more braking force is
applied to the front brakes. But as the front brakes get hot, their effect
“fades”, reducing overall braking. The new system continually measures the
temperature of all the brakes and increases braking on the rear wheels to
compensate for front brake fade, but not so…
Technology
Keep up at the back
By Barry Fox
24 November 2001
