With increasing awareness and
acceptance of safety technologies in vehicles, India is emerging as a focus
market for airbags, Anti-lock Brake Systems (ABS) and Electronic Stability
Control (ESC). The Chassis & Safety Division of international automotive supplier
Continental will start within 2016 the production of ABS and ESC units in
India. A new assembly line for ABS and ESC for passenger cars and later ABS for
two-wheelers will be located in the existing Continental Automotive Brake
Systems plant in Gurgaon, Haryana. The local production start of the Electronic
Control Unit (ECU) is planned for the year 2018 in Bangalore. The company
targeting the delivery of its first localised ABS/ESC products for India to a
leading vehicle manufacturer, by end of 2016.
“The Indian market is one of
the world’s largest markets for compact cars and two-wheelers. By producing
these systems in the market for the market, we are matching our portfolio to
the requirements of our local customers, while keeping our technologies affordable",
said Felix Bietenbeck, Head of Continental’s business unit Vehicle Dynamics.
“India tops the list of
nations in total number of road fatalities. The widespread use of ABS, airbags
and ESC in vehicles can contribute considerably to reducing the number of
serious injuries and fatalities on Indian roads”, said Claude d’Gama Rose,
Managing Director, Continental Automotive Components India. “With decades of
experience in this area, Continental offers a portfolio of high performance,
advanced products which can contribute to greater road safety,” he added.
The task of an Anti-lock Brake
System (ABS) is to maintain braking stability and steering ability during
braking on all types of road surfaces. ABS systems allow for the maximum
braking effect without the risk of the wheels locking up. ABS therefore
improves the vehicle stability and steerability. In order to achieve this, the
electronically controlled braking system captures the speed on all four wheels
and calculates the optimum slip conditions by regulating the braking pressure
on the individual wheel. Continental’s
ABS solution is both modular and scalable and can be customized for various
control strategies for both, two- and four-wheelers.
Electronic Stability Control
(ESC) supports the prevention of critical vehicle states. The system constantly
evaluates the data from the wheel speed sensors, the steering angle sensor, the
yaw rate and lateral acceleration sensor and compares the driver’s input with
the vehicle’s actual behavior. If an unstable state is detected, for instance
as the result of a sudden direction change, ESC responds in milliseconds and
stabilizes the vehicle through wheel-specific brake intervention and adjustment
of the engine torque. At the same time ESC is a prerequisite for further safety
technologies like Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. Based on ESC, surrounding
sensors like radar, camera and lidar technology are required for new predictive
driver assistance systems which can further enhance road safety.
A glance at the statistics shows how important
ABS is alone for motorcycles. In India, 32,524 lives were lost and over 127,000
people were injured in two wheeler accidents in 2014. Awareness and enforcement
are critical in improving road safety. The recent draft notification from the
Indian Ministry of Road Transport and Highways mandates that two wheelers with
engine capacity exceeding 125cc manufactured from April 1, 2017 need to be
fitted with anti-lock braking systems. All existing two wheelers exceeding
125cc need to be fitted with anti-lock braking systems from April 1, 2018. With
this, the first solid steps have been taken towards achieving the goal of
“Vision Zero”, the vision of accident-free driving, on Indian roads.
Source: Continental