Antilock Braking System ABS

Perhaps from your own experience: a quick tap on the brake pedal can suffice to make the wheels of your vehicle lock up. The vehicle then no longer reacts to the driver's steering input. The Antilock Braking System ABS prevents the locking of one or more wheels during braking and thus ensures that the vehicle remains steerable and is brought to a standstill quickly and safely.

And this is how it works: wheel-speed sensors detect the speed of rotation of the wheels and pass the electrical signals to a control unit. With the help of these signals, the degree of slip between the wheels and the road surface is calculated. If one or more wheels tend to lock, ABS intervenes at lightning speed and ensures that the brake pressure is kept constant or is reduced. In this way the wheels are prevented from locking and the vehicle responds to the driver's steering intention.