The introduction of the world’s first Antilock Braking System for passenger cars by Bosch in 1978 is a milestone in the area of active driving safety. Since then we have developed our ABS further to offer smaller, lighter and more powerful systems.

In an emergency braking situation the braking force applied by the driver may be greater than the tire can handle: the wheel locks. The tire can now no longer transfer any lateral traction forces. The vehicle becomes unstable and uncontrollable, since the vehicle no longer reacts to the steering input of the driver. In a vehicle equipped with an Antilock Braking System, wheel-speed sensors measure the speed of rotation of the wheels and pass this information to the ABS control unit. If the ABS control unit detects that one or more wheels tend to lock, it intervenes within milliseconds by modulating the braking pressure at each individual wheel. In doing so, ABS prevents the wheels from locking and ensures safe braking: the vehicle remains steerable and stable. Generally, the stopping distance is also reduced.