Bendix talks brakes, ESP

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Bendix brand name has been agreed upon for the joint venture between Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems and Dana Corporation.

The new marriage will be known as Bendix Spicer Foundation Brake LLC – a joint venture that combines the braking systems expertise of Bendix with the axle and brake integration capability of Dana. The agreement includes air disc brakes, air drum brakes, wheel-end brake components such as slack adjusters and spring brakes and hydraulic aftermarket brake products, Bendix officials announced at the Mid-America Trucking Show.

“Product branding was of primary consideration throughout our transition process, and we chose to brand our products as Bendix to leverage its long leadership position in braking and its strong reputation for safety and innovation,” said Kishor Pendse, president of Bendix Spicer Foundation Brake.

With the branding business taken care of, Bendix Spicer Foundation Brake announced its field tests have significantly extended pad and rotor life for its air disc brakes. The test involved more than 300 tractors and trailers equipped with various disc brake combinations, with each unit accumulating more than 300,000 miles.

“With air disc brakes on all axles, it’s entirely possible to have truck brakes for life on many vehicle applications,” revealed Alf Siebke, product line director for air disc brakes with Bendix Spicer Foundation Brake. “Projections from our ongoing field tests demonstrate the possibility of trucks reaching up to three million miles on certain linehaul applications before requiring pad and rotor changes. We expect the average vehicle will see one million miles of wear.”

While longer life expectancies combined with shorter stopping distances may make disc brakes a more appealing option for fleets and owner/operators, Pendse stressed the transition won’t happen overnight – even with the impending changes to NHTSA’s stopping distance regulations.

“We believe regulations alone are not going to drive air disc brakes,” he said. “Long-term the marketplace has to go to air disc brakes but it’s going to be a long transition like it was with passenger cars.”

He predicts it will be 10 to 15 years before the North American trucking industry makes the switch to air disc brakes all around the vehicle.

Nonetheless, the company is forging ahead with air disc brake production in North America this year. Bendix’s existing Frankfort, Ky. plant has been equipped to produce disc brakes after the facility received a $3 million facelift. The starting capacity is 120,000 units per year.

“Bringing air disc brake production capability to North America demonstrates our commitment to this product line, which we view as the future of braking in North America,” Siebke announced. “By manufacturing air disc brakes here, it allows us to meet anticipated demand and helps to further reduce the overall cost to the end user.”

In other Bendix Spicer Foundation Brake news, the company has released a “wide brake” calculator designed to pinpoint the potential savings by upgrading to the company’s wide brake technology. The tool can be found online at www.foundationbrakes.com. The company says wide brakes feature an increased amount of wearable lining, which extends service life. In many cases, Bendix says one or more relines can be eliminated over the life of the vehicle by running wide brakes.

And Bendix Spicer Foundation Brake has also introduced a new automatic slack adjuster offering extended service life. Bendix officials claim their ASA-5 slack adjuster reduces the ingress of contaminants that cause premature wear-out. The ASA-5 also includes new bronze bearing rings on the spline gear and more durable clutch geometry that also results in extended life expectancy.

OEMs embrace Bendix’s new braking system

Bendix’s ABS-6 Advanced system with ESP functionality has received the green light from five OEMs who have opted to make the system available in their published databooks.

Bendix made the announcement at the Mid-America Trucking Show, following extensive testing by multiple truck manufacturers. International, Kenworth, Mack, Peterbilt and Volvo have all decided to make the braking and rollover protection system available on a variety of Class 7 and 8 trucks.

The Bendix ABS-6 Advanced with ESP system can recognize and intervene in situations that could lead to a rollover or jackknife, the company says. The Bendix RSP roll stability program is a subset of the ESP system which helps mitigate rollovers by detecting a truck’s loss of stability before the driver can sense it. The system then intervenes by reducing the engine throttle and selectively applying the tractor and trailer brakes.

Bendix is now inviting fleets to test drive the new electronic stability system and it’s taking its ride-and-drive tour on the road, including one stop in Canada (Toronto, Ont. May 12). To reserve a spot to test the system, call Patricia Ryavec at (440) 329-9294.

Trailer systems enhanced

In other Bendix news, the company announced it has enhanced the diagnostic capabilities for its new trailer antilock braking system – TABS-6. It has also added its TRSP trailer roll stability system to its electronics portfolio.

TABS-6 is a scalable ABS technology for trailers that can also allow technicians to easily pinpoint the cause of system failures, Bendix claims. Advanced blink codes are used to provide detailed information about problems with the system. Technicians can also now use the Bendix Trailer Remote Diagnostic Unit (TRDU) to further streamline troubleshooting and repairs.

The Bendix TRSP roll stability system for trailers provides sophisticated braking to prevent rollovers, the company says. It’s based on the best-selling trailer stability system used in Europe.

“The addition of a roll stability system for trailers to the Bendix portfolio emphasizes our commitment to providing a multitude of safety options tailored to the trailer market,” announced Paul Waszkowski, product manager for trailers with Bendix. “This investment in trailer-oriented stability will help fleets and operators realize safer cornering, lane changing and obstacle avoidance maneuvers. In addition, TRSP and TABS-6 both have the potential to reduce the cost of vehicle ownership for fleets and vehicle operators.”

Bendix intros new oil coalescing filter

Bendix also introduced the PuraGuard QC – an upgraded oil coalescing filter the company claims protects the air system by removing excessive oil contamination from the supply air.

The filter has a quick-change, spin-on cartridge for easy maintenance that requires no special tools. Company officials claim the PuraGuard QC has an oil removal efficiency of 90 per cent or more. This extends the life and performance of air components while reducing maintenance costs, the company says. The PuraGuard QC is interchangeable with its predecessor – the Bendix PuraGuard system filter.

“PuraGuard QC is the latest in the line of innovative air treatment system developments from Bendix, which are becoming more important to optimal pneumatic brake system operation,” announced Russ Brax, air treatment product line director with Bendix. “Fleets are taking notice of the significant improvement that products like the PuraGuard QC filter can make in the overall efficiency of their vehicle operations.” For more information, visit www.bendix.com.

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