Automotive Jargon Deconstructed: ABS (anti lock braking system)

ABS

The Indian car market as we all know is on a rapid upward spiral upwards, with more and more cars being launched each passing week. These cars, while being laden with cutting edge technology often leave car buyers confused with the array of features they come with. Which feature to opt for and which feature to skip? Increasingly, this is a dilemma most car buyers are confronted with when they make their buying decisions. We, at Indiancarsbikes, understand this and we’ll do our bit to simplify your car buying experience. Starting today, we will carry a brand new section that will greatly simplify the maelstrom of automotive jargon that greets you every time you go out to buy/check a new car out. Reading this section, we hope, will make you more confident and aware of your buying decision.

ABS: Anti Lock Braking System

Illustration of the Anti Lock Braking system

ABS, or anti lock braking system, like it’s name suggests is a braking technology. An Anti Lock Braking system is designed primarily to make sure that the wheels do not lock up, even under the hardest braking pressures. In other words, you can actually stomp on the brakes and still manage not to skid as the ABS will prevent the wheels from locking up. Picture this, you’re doing a ton up speed on one of the newly laid national highway somewhere along the golden quadrilateral in your fast, new car and suddenly a moronic villager decides to step out of his field along the road with his cattle in tow. What will you do? Most drivers tend to panic in such situations and slam on the brakes. If you’re car has ABS, you can stop without skidding off uncontrollably and more importantly, steer your car around the dumb villager and his bovines, even while braking hard. Otherwise, you know what would have happened: an uncontrollable skid with or without taking out the villager and his bunch of bovines.

While this little illustration is a reflection of the capabilities of ABS, you may now be intrigued to know what makes this entire system up. The ABS consists of four wheel speed sensors sitting in the four wheels of your car. These sensors will monitor the wheels rotations and constantly transmit the data to an on board computer called the ECU(electronic control unit). Thus, the electronic computer unit will constantly monitor the rotational speed of each wheel and will step in to apply corrective measures if it detects any wheel rotating faster than the other wheels. How does the ECU do this? The ECU is connected to a couple of hydraulic valves which sit between the brake fluid reservoir and the brake calipers. When the ECU senses a wheel turning faster than the other wheels, it activates the hydraulic valves which will increase hydraulic brake pressure on that particular wheel, enabling it to slow at the same rate as the other wheels. This, in a nutshell is how the ABS works.

Illustration of steering under braking with and without ABS

You might still be wondering as to how all this prevents locking up of the wheels and enables steering during braking. We’ll explain that too. Like the ECU increases pressure on the brake hydraulics to make sure that all the wheels come to a uniform halt without skidding, the ECU is also connected to a pressure sensor in the brake pedal. The pressure sensor will sense the pressure that the driver applies on the brakes and will in turn modulate the braking hydraulics in such a way that your car’s wheels slow down in the fastest possible time without locking. While some of the inputs are pre-programmed in the ECU, the other inputs like individual wheel speed are constantly monitored by the ECU on a real time basis. In essence, the ABS acts like a buffer/modulator between your right foot and the brakes, thus making sure that the the wheels don’t lock up even when you stomp on the brakes.

Coming to how you can steer while braking, we need to first analyze how highly experienced and skilled drivers react to emergency braking situations. During an emergency braking maneuver, a highly skilled driver will not panic and slam the brakes but he/she will brake hard to the extent that the wheels don’t lock up(cadence braking), at the same time will trying to steer away/around the obstacle. Sounds difficult? Difficult, it certainly is as even the most skilled drivers find themselves in trouble during unexpected emergency braking conditions. So, once again, we’re back to square one, back to the ABS, which will enable an ordinary driver to function like a highly skilled one and steer even under hard braking, as it will do all the thinking and braking for you. All you need to do is focus on steering your car, even as you slam down on the brakes during an emergency.

Working of ABS during simultaneous braking and steering

The ABS is particularly effective on wet and gravelly surfaces where a slight lock up of the wheels can send you careening across the road in an uncontrollable skid. It is here, that the ABS steps in and makes things easier for you while greatly reducing braking distances as it handles braking much more efficiently than an average human being can ever hope to do. While, all this is about how the ABS helps reduce braking distance on wet and slippery surfaces, on some occasions, the presence of the ABS may result in longer braking distances. Understanding this is pretty easy as the ABS essentially stands for anti lock braking system, whose primary aim is to prevent the wheels from locking, thus preventing loss of control. The reduction of braking distances is merely a by product of more efficient braking. But sometimes, cars stop in a shorter distance with the wheels locked up. It is during such times that the ABS looks like it isn’t reducing braking distances. But, you also need to remember that more often than not, wheels locking up causes loss of control. So, the ABS is any day a better bet than an uncontrollable skid due to locked up wheels.

Now, while you go car shopping, you”ll find the ABS option listed as an optional extra for a small premium in most small hatchbacks. It would do you a world of good, safety wise if you tick the ABS option and drive out with an ABS enabled car, because safety is something that is just not worth compromising on, notwithstanding the additional cost monetarily. High end car buyers needn’t worry as most, if not all premium sedans come with ABS as standard piece of safety kit. If the car you’ve chosen doesn’t, make sure you insist on a version with ABS or time for you to shift your buying decision to a car that features ABS. Drive hard, but Drive Safe. Happy Motoring.

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February 23, 2010 | By Jay Prashanth · Tags: Anti Lock Braking System, Automotive Safety Equipment

Comments

One Response to “Automotive Jargon Deconstructed: ABS (anti lock braking system)”

Flannel Sheets · on November 10th, 2010 12:59 am

there are many pressure sensors that are availabe today but MEMS type seems to be the most popular *

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