U-ABS Approved for Trailer Retrofits

Sign up for our weekly email to stay on top of the latest news and insights!

Source: Haldex announcement

WEYERSHEIM, France – The Haldex U-ABS antilock braking system has been approved by French third-party testing body UTAC Ceram for retrofitting on trailers equipped with older generations of braking systems. This approval means that a U-ABS retrofit will not violate the terms of the trailer’s type approval; modified trailers remain road-legal. 

Having been confirmed to be safe and compliant in retrofit, U-ABS is now Haldex’s standard retrofit option for MGX, Modal 24V and Modular systems for existing trailers and semi-trailers.

As Haldex’s newest ABS, U-ABS had previously passed EU type approval in its own right and complies with the anti-lock provisions of UNECE Regulation 13. ‘U’ stands for universal; the 24V system is intended for many markets in Asia and South America. In Europe, it is often used for agricultural trailers. It can be used there on road-going trailers too, but only those with a steel suspension.

Related post:
Haldex Customers’ on Modern Operations

The tests, which were carried out at a customer site near Strasbourg, France in October 2020, confirmed that U-ABS offers at least equivalent brake performance to the older systems that it replaces.

Technicians measured braking performance on a three-axle skeletal semi-trailer originally equipped with a Haldex Modular antilock braking system. For the tests, that system was replaced with the new UABS system in different configurations, including 2S/1M axle-by-axle configuration, 2S/2M side-by-side configuration and 4S/3M configuration compared with the Modal ABS system.

Tests for response time (which had to be less than 0.44sec) were done back-to-back, in which the only elements of the pneumatic circuit changed were the ABS valve blocks.

The U-ABS valve internals are very similar to that of previous systems; the only physical change from Modular to U-ABS within the air circuit is a different surrounding casting. That means that a retrofit may only require swapping in a new control unit and reconnecting the existing valve block with new cables to a new ECU, electronic control unit, as an absolute minimum.

Sign up for our weekly email to stay on top of the latest news and insights!

(However, Haldex also recommends replacing ABS valve blocks more than 10 years old, as solenoid designs have evolved in that time). The essential features of the traditional anti-lock braking set-up with air brake circuit – in which wheel brake actuators are applied through air pressure – remain unchanged in U-ABS. Like its predecessors, wheel speed sensors mounted in brake assemblies monitor for wheel lock-up by comparing the vehicle speed with wheel speed. When a mismatch is detected, the system ECU releases air pressure to reduce the braking force as necessary.

The entire announcement can be viewed by clicking HERE.

The Brake Report
The Brake Report

The BRAKE Report is an online media platform dedicated to the automotive and commercial vehicle brake segments. Our mission is to provide the global brake community with the latest news & headlines from around the industry.