Because icy roads and severe weather are common in Canada, emergency braking systems are critical in preventing collisions and accidents. After George Westinghouse pioneered railway braking systems in the late 1800s, French manufacturer Louis Renault created the mechanical drum brake, widely regarded as the first modern braking system, in 1902.
This article continues our series on vehicle safety. The previous article in this series was an overview of airbags.
In this article:
3. Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) Systems
4. Emergency Braking Regulations
1 What Are Emergency Brakes?
Every car has a manual emergency brake, with some modern cars also featuring an autonomous braking system. While emergency brakes should be used when there is any kind of imminent crash, they should also be applied when parking to ensure the vehicle is locked into place, which is particularly important when parked on an incline. Because of this, emergency brakes are also referred to as parking brakes. They perform the important role of decelerating the vehicle in the event that the primary brakes fail or are inaccessible.
2 Manual Emergency Braking
Automatic emergency braking systems aside, there are four types of manual emergency brakes found in cars:
- A stick lever, which is generally found under the instrument panel in older vehicles
- A center lever, which is commonly found between the front seats
- A foot pedal, which is situated left of the other floor pedals
- A push button on the console controls
When the emergency brake is applied, the brake cable is passed through an intermediate lever, which increases the force of the brake action, before being passed through an equalizer which splits the cable in two so that the force can be sent evenly across the two cables connected to the rear wheels. This results in the vehicle being brought to a complete stop while also being locked into place until the brakes are released.
3 Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) Systems
Throughout the twentieth century, brake technology advanced, with automatic emergency braking systems first appearing in some luxury vehicle models in the early twenty-first century. These systems improve driving safety by detecting potential collisions and independently applying the brakes. More sophisticated systems can detect impending collisions with smaller targets like pedestrians and bicycles. Some vehicles have “forward collision warning,” which warns the driver of an impending collision with another vehicle or an object.
Studies have even found that these braking systems could reduce fatal accidents by up to 25%. Other studies have concluded that autonomous emergency braking systems reduce rear-end crashes by 38%.
Unlike standard parking brakes, autonomous emergency braking systems allow the vehicle to detect and automatically react to potential collisions ahead, slowing down or stopping the vehicle or even steering it out of the way of a collision. Any car that is fitted with an autonomous system must also feature a manual emergency brake, as these systems cannot hold a car in place after it has come to a stop.
It goes without saying that automatic emergency braking is an added safety feature, intended to reduce the frequency and severity of collisions. It is important to remember what it is not: a substitute for alertness and skill on the road.
4 Emergency Braking Regulations
Despite strong evidence in favor of the effectiveness of automatic braking in preventing accidents, it was estimated in 2018 that only 30% of new cars are being fitted with such systems.
US federal regulations state that all vehicles must have some form of the emergency braking system, with autonomous braking being required on most newly-registered heavy goods vehicles. Meanwhile, Transport Canada is considering updating the Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations to make automatic emergency braking and pedestrian automatic emergency braking systems mandatory. As car safety regulations continue to develop, it is likely that AEB will be installed in an increasing number of vehicles.
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