Anti-lock Braking System(ABS) Explained

ABS

We are going to talk about something that will possibly help you avert major mishaps and thus is an essential safety feature – The Anti-Lock Braking System – known as ABS to us.

In an ideal scenario, when you want to stop, you apply brakes by gradually pressing the brake pedal and your car slowly comes to a halt. There is no cause for worry here. Now, assume you are cruising at adecent speed and suddenly due to some reason, you need to brake. This is when you press the brake pedal really hard!What generally happens here is that the tyres start screeching and the vehicle may come to a halt after skidding a bit. Now let us understand why it happens.

Due to the excess braking effort applied, the friction generated by the tyres is not enough to grip the road surface, and the wheels lock up and the car is carried forward due to its momentum which causes ‘skidding’. This may also happen, when one of your wheels may encounter dust or water and in spite of minimal braking effort, as there is no traction to be offered, the particular wheel may skid.

When a wheel or all of them skid, the car does not have any further grip to use and hence the driver has minimal control over the car. Any steering effort during such an instance may not result in the car moving in the direction the driver intends to which makes avoiding mishaps even more difficult.

The ABS system is equipped with sensors to detect wheel lock. Whenever it detects the slightest lock, the ABS motor, coupled with the braking system, reduces the braking force on that particular wheel so as to negate the wheel lock. This helps in providing the optimum braking force to each wheel on the fly, whatever the surface or traction is available to that wheel. Since the wheels are not skidding, any steering input given during braking will result in the car moving in the desired direction, thus, multiplying the chances of obstacle evasion or keeping the car under control.

ABS is a driving aid and will help you stay in control of the car as far as possible. However, it does not ensure your safety under any extravagant circumstances the car may be subjected to. As a driver, you will have to be as responsible, cautious and careful as always and the ABS will act as your back up in case of any unavoidable instances.

The ABS feature is now being introduced as an option in lower segment cars and is becoming a standard for most sedans and above. We hope it becomes a standard like in most developed nations. As buyers, we must understand the importance of our own safety as well as others on the road and encourage more such features to come into the mainstream.