What is meant by Anti Lock Braking System - Use of ABS in Cars

Today, we will cover a hidden but really important technology which has changed the way vehicles behave and perform. It is one of the most important inventions of its time which holds great value today and will keep on valued in the field of automobile technology. This is ABS.

ABS: What does it mean?

ABS: Means Anti Lock Braking System (though majority of Indians call it anti braking system, ABS). In simple words, ABS basically means employment of a system that avoids the brakes from locking up (locking of wheel rotation), thereby, improving the braking performance as a result.

What is the use of ABS in cars?

I believe almost all of you there must have faced a situation many times in your lives when driving even at a relaxed pace, you had to stomp on braking due to sudden arrival of an object in front of you or simply because of a deep pothole or speed breaker above average height (which is common in India due to lack of norms for a speed breaker height). What do you do then? Simply thrash the brake pedal with full force. But in most of the cases, the vehicles refuse to stop in time and keep skidding and/or sliding and also all of a sudden, the steering and/or handle also get so tight that you could not steer the car away from the object and eventually end up in crashing in or on a pothole or a speed breaker or hit an object. Efforts failed, result met. In worse cases, if the object was big or you were at speeds above than normal, it did also pose risk to your life. In fact most of the accidents, take place due to head on crash for which, failure in stopping power is responsible. In most of these cases, the accident could have been avoided if the car was able to be stopped just a feet or so before the point of collision.

Why it happened? Because when you applied brakes with full force, the brakes reached their maximum stopping position causing the wheels to lock up. Now, wheels are locked but due to the weight of car, passengers, and force of speed, the vehicle couldn't be stopped in such short time. Result? The wheels start skidding and/or slipping on the road. This is not enough, as due to locking of wheels, the steering also gets so hard that it cannot be operated or maneuvered right or left to avoid hitting the object in front, so what is the remedy?

Simple, press the brake pedal and as the moment you sense wheel lock up, release the brake and apply again and release and apply. It reduces the braking distance and also the steering is operable due to freedom of movement of wheel. Now this is the role of ABS or anti lock braking system which does the above work.

Read more... How Abs System Works In Cars?

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