How Haldex braking systems enhance road safety

Braking systems are probably the most safety-critical part of any vehicle, so it follows that their design, manufacture and maintenance must meet the very highest standards. This is why Haldex, which specialises in brakes for trucks and trailers, prioritises safety at every stage of its product lifecycle.

Here Haldex’s Sebastian Quick, vice president of R&D, and Yvonne Paige-Stimson, vice president of R&D Engineering (Air Controls & Telematics), reveal more about the company’s multifaceted safety strategy, which encompasses the entire lifecycle of a braking system, from design and engineering through long-term use.

Haldex’s approach to safety can be broken down into three main parts – design, manufacture and maintenance. Overarching all these is the protection of product function through patents, which help to guide users away from the use of unsafe, non-standard parts when it comes to servicing.

“We create the right product by design from requirements, the right prerequisites for manufacture, and the right product in use. And we prevent poor functioning copies to enter the market,” says Quick.

Every Haldex product must undergo rigorous testing and development to ensure safety and reliability. The thorough design validation plan includes concept validation, prototype validation, and process validation.

“Our requirement for our brake products is two years in field testing,” says Quick. “Historically, we have seen new issues upcoming as late as 18 months. And we also want to cover different applications.”

This extensive testing period allows Haldex to account for various real-world scenarios and applications, ensuring their products perform safely across a wide range of conditions.

When it comes to the critical role of patents in maintaining safety standards Quick stresses the importance of ensuring that all replacement parts, whether from Haldex or competitors, are manufactured to the correct standards to fulfil the intended functionality. Even seemingly minor design elements can have significant safety implications.

“There are design aspects in our brake that aren't super obvious. For example, the pad is connected to the thrust plate, which applies the force to a pad, through two dimples or protrusions that fit into each other. And when you look at them, it looks simple – they just need to go together. But the interface is designed in a way to support part of the brake."

“If you change the dimensions of components, which the copycats tend to do to avoid patent infringement, then you jeopardise the function and reduce the life of the product,” he says.

Proper product function is not only achieved by an innovative design. It is also crucial that the product is possible to manufacture with a small piece-to-piece variation. During the development of a product, focus is also on manufacturability, making sure that consistent quality can be achieved in manufacturing and assembly of each component.

Another important part of the Haldex approach is the partnering with telematics and big data to further enhance safety, which go well beyond just observing worn-out brakes at the next service interval. Haldex telematics is advancing to predict future maintenance needs, monitor driving behaviour and even plan safer routes, all of which give fleet managers valuable safety advantages.

“Our algorithm looks at trends and predicts when brake pads are going to wear out,” says Paige-Stimson. “Then you can plan for the fact that in two months’ time you are going to need a service.

“Since ABS and EBS routinely monitor braking events, the telematics can send real-time data to the cloud. Knowing how fast a trailer was approaching a roundabout, for example, we can tell if the vehicle was being driven safely or not.” This means with smarter fleet monitoring, unsafe driver behaviour can be detected, ultimately leading to re-education or sanctions.

“Furthermore, the telematics has global positioning, so it knows on a map where the trailer and truck combination is,” continues Paige-Stimson. “This means fleet managers can make informed decisions about the routes they’re picking and the times they’re allowing drivers to safely make these journeys. One area, for example, that fleet managers are very interested in is avoiding bridge strikes.”

New technologies are also helping to enhance the safety of Haldex’s products when it comes to maintenance and servicing – a smart hubcap fitted with an RFID or NFC chip enables engineers to ‘see inside’ the braking system simply by holding their phone up to the wheel.

“You can just download an app in your phone, hold it next to the hubcap and you will get your serial number of your product with all of the spare parts available and so on,” says Quick. This helps to make servicing more efficient and effective, which in turn maintains high levels of performance and therefore safety.

Haldex’s braking systems are helping to improve road safety with comprehensive virtual and real-world testing, high-quality manufacturing with patent protections, innovative data products and enhanced servicing assistance. It all means that Haldex is ahead of the curve when it comes to delivering vital safety systems for the commercial vehicle industry.