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Letter to the Editor: Install Discs
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isc brakes for Class 8 trucks are long overdue. They have been standard equipment in Europe for more than 20 years. Disc systems are a totally proven technology in use on automobiles and aircraft for more than 35 years.
In your article (“Manufacturers Face Looming Rule Change,”), an executive for a brake manufacturer said that stopping distances at 75 miles per hour drop to about 325 feet with discs from about 475 feet with drum technology. Later, a fleet vice president said, “Unless discs become mandatory, we won’t spec them. The business case just isn’t there.”I would not like to be the attorney representing any trucking company that just had one of its trucks run over a family car because “the business case just isn’t there.” If existing, on-the-shelf, superior technology is not being utilized because no one wants to be first, I think a jury would see through that argument very quickly and make large awards against the defendant.
I>1999 Road Team Finalist
wner-Operator
ew Tripoli, Pa.
This letter appeared in the July 12 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
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