The Heavy Duty Brake Manufacturers Council is continuing to work with the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to develop new inspection guidelines and out-of-service criteria that will be common to all brake makes and models, while accounting for air disc brake systems. An update was given during the Air Disc Brake Task Force meeting at TMC’s annual convention.
The groups have gone through as many as five drafts of the proposed CVSA Roadside Inspection Procedures, and they are expected to be reviewed at the March CVSA meeting in Denver. From there, it will go to a CVSA Executive Committee for approval. Ron Plantan, principal engineer with Bendix Spicer Foundation Brake, said he expects the new criteria to be in place by the end of the year.
“The big thing is we needed one standard,” said Randy Petresh, vice president of technical services for Haldex Brakes.
Among the areas being revised and updated are proper movement of the caliper assembly, lining and pad wear, uniform brake chamber size on axles, and rotor cracking.
The other item on the group’s agenda was a discussion of the proposed new federal stopping distance regulations, but that was tabled since the regulations remain unknown. “We’re still waiting,” Petresh said.
