Projects/Heavy Vehicle Research Center

H04 Brake Performance Characterization

completed

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Reducing the disparity between the stopping distances of heavy trucks and the lighter vehicles with which they share the road continues to be one of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) high priority areas. Current truck designs typically take between 1.5 and 2 times as far to stop as passenger cars from highway speeds. Truck brake performance has been identified as a major factor contributing to crashes involving large trucks.

The purpose of this research is to provide objective test data to further refine the database of single-unit truck braking systems. The data will support  NHTSA future rulemaking activity in determining the feasibility and benefits of reducing single-unit truck stopping distances.

This research was performed under the direction of the NTRCI for the U.S. Department of Transportation/NHTSA as a collaborative effort by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Knox County Fleet Service Center, Waste Connections, Walker Trucking, Michelin Laurens Proving Grounds, Transportation Research Center, Inc., and Fleet Tire. The test-track, laboratory tests, and real-world field testing are linked tasks that will provide valuable independent information, as well as a regimen of testing that allows a comparison of the performance of similar braking materials on similar heavy vehicles in three distinctively different testing environments.