I spend a lot of time at truck shows and among the common comebacks I hear are, “They don’t make ‘em like they used to” and “Too much bloody technology”. There’s a good answer for both comments, and it’s a one word statement: Safety.
I grew up in a town called Healesville (Victoria) at the foot of the Great Diving Range. These days it’s a coffee strip with homes more often asking over a million dollars, than under. In my youth though, it was a logging town. Dozens of sawmills would dress the timber brought down from the mountains.
The main route though those mountains was the Black Spur, a treacherous stretch of narrow, winding, so-called highway – up, over and down the range. Still dangerous today, back then it didn’t even have Armco. Not that it would have stopped the regular event of a logger ending up down a deep gully. Loss of brakes or the wrong gear or simple distraction coming to a hairpin curve meant loss of truck, cargo and sometimes life itself.
So whilst I admire the old gear, I’m also a great admirer of technology. This was brought home when Knorr-Bremse invited Big Rigs to the DECA facility at Shepparton to experience their technology in action.
Knorr-Bremse was founded by Georg Knorr in Germany in 1905, beginning with rail and moving into commercial vehicles – both pillars of the company today.
Entrepreneur, Heinz Thiele, bought the company in 1985 and turned it into an €8 billion empire.
Coming to Australia in 2006, the company now employs over 350 staff. Get in a train and there’s a fair chance the door that opens will be a Knorr-Bremse product, as will be its brakes. For commercial vehicles, the company provides stability control systems, both for the prime mover and – equally importantly, as I was to find out – the trailer.
The Bendix system installed on the truck provides ABS (Anti-lock Braking System), ATC (Automatic Traction Control), and also ESP (Electronic Stability Program) which measures lateral acceleration, yaw rate and steering angle to monitor the vehicle’s projected outcome and applies the brakes as it sees fit, to maintain stability.
On the trailer side, Knorr-Bremse provides Trailer Electronic Braking Systems, or TEBS, that includes Roll Stability Program (RSP), which works similar to the truck system by applying the brakes when it feels there is a rollover imminent. Mandated since 2019, there are plenty of trailers – dare I say the majority – that don’t have TEBS, or similar.
Importantly, TEBS can be retrofitted to trailers and, as I was to find out, is very effective even if the prime mover is one of those beloved ‘Old Skool’ trucks.
Interlocks and proximity sensors are starting to become quite common so, for example if you have a door open and you have a proxy centre on it, TEBS can apply the brakes.
Another demonstration on this day was the Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) and Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) features of Bendix Fusion. Although commonplace on most Euro brands, AEB only becomes mandatory here in Australia from next February. Currently an option on Kenworth (the test vehicles we experienced at this event), the company will fit Fusion to almost all models rolling out of the factory from January 1. This is a good story for road users because the most common accident is rollover, often caused by other road users getting in the way, and the second most common is a truck hitting the car in front. And Kenworth is the most common truck on our roads.
It is worth noting that typically North American braking systems only output a pneumatic brake signal to trailers, whereas Euros output both electronic and pneumatic.
The Knorr-Bremse Trailer Roadtrain Module (TRM) can also be fitted to a North American truck, where it can convert the pneumatic signal to an electronic one, providing more responsive and accurate braking.
TEBS is Knorr-Bremse’s Trailer Emergency Braking System. In conjunction with TRMs (Trailer Roadtrain Modules) which can be fitted to up to seven trailers, the system ensures immediate and uniform braking between prime mover and all trailers.
In a static demonstration at DECA, two trucks are towing three trailers – one with TRM and the other without. Long story short, the combination without took 0.6 seconds longer for the last trailer to start braking. Doesn’t sound like much but at 100km/h it equates to 16.8 metres which is enough for your whole rig to go over the cliff or plough into multiple vehicles in front of you.
TRM ensures brakes on all trailers work in unison, both in applying and releasing, so no pushing or drag as you brake or accelerate, resulting in increased life of components right down the driveline.
‘Bendix Fusion’ uses radar and a camera to track vehicles in front, employing autonomous emergency braking if required as well as lane departure warning. If the vehicle in front stops so will the truck, taking off again autonomously within 3 seconds, or just requiring a light tap on the accelerator. Hill Hold is also part of the set-up on auto models.
Bendix Fusion 2.10 installed on the Kenworth K220 introduces a more effective radar, where the next generation Fusion 3 system, available in the near future, will use a new camera with a wider field of view and increased image processing capability.
iReverse is yet another offering from the company which is very handy when, for example backing into docks. An audible warning will sound from a distance of 2.7 metres (adjustable), increasing in frequency to 1 metre when TEBS, based on info from the radar, will apply the brakes for a couple of seconds, then release to allow the driver to continue backing. iReverse can also be integrated into the clearance lights of the trailer, pulsing the lights to give the driver a visual guide.
And there’s also iMass which is a Smart OBM (On-Board Mass) system that measures the pressure in the air suspension of the entire combination and relates this to a vehicle mass estimation using the Knorr-Bremse TEBS.
Having valiantly tried to assimilate this mountain of information, it was time to step into, in this case a Kenworth T410, and have driver Des roll the truck and trailer! Luckily the trailer was equipped with outriggers to prevent a total rollover.
Firstly we head onto the skid pan at 50km/h with no systems active. Cornering though a designated turn circle the truck wobbles and weaves but stays just in Des’ control. Then we go again at just 3km/h more and he lets go. It’s a strange sensation as it begins to occur quite slowly and gently. Then all hell breaks loose and we are suddenly going over – thankfully only as far as those outriggers allow, and that is far enough for me!
Next we do the same thing with just the prime mover’s safety systems in play and Des heading into the ‘bend’ some 10km/h faster still. Bendix ESP comes into play, the truck overrides the driver’s input and we stay upright.
Then we try the same manoeuvre with just the TEBS operating on the trailer and this is a surprise to me because the trailer effectively stops the prime mover from rolling over. Here is a case in point of having the trailer safety system fitted, even though you may be in an older prime mover without the safety ‘accoutrements’. It is simply lifesaving!
If I was coming down the Black Spur I’d want every safety system Knorr-Bremse can provide – at the very least I’d demand the Trailer Emergency Braking System. That it can be retrofitted is, to me, a no-brainer. While you may pine for ‘the good old days’, be grateful companies such as Knorr-Bremse, in conjunction with the OEMS are doing their utmost to ensure you get home safely.