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Disc brakes are now used on many modern trucks, led by the European manufacturers Volvo, Scania, Daf, Leyland and Mercedes. The technology lag in employing air brake systems with large disc brakes has now caught up. In the next year or two you will see many more heavy trucks being made with disc brakes.

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12y ago
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8y ago

They are, they just haven't caught on in the US as quickly, but, as the stopping distance requirements become more strict, they'll become more commonplace. Peterbilt and Kenworth use discs as standard on their steer axles. The biggest drawback - particularly for fleets which hire inexperienced drivers - is going to be maintenance. Replacing the pads is easy, both on the Bendix and Wabco systems, but, if a driver burns their brakes up coming down a mountain grade, a six around brake job with S-cams can be done in three hours, replacing both shoes and drums... it takes significantly longer if you have to replace rotors on an air disc system, because the rotors are bolted to the hub, meaning you need to remove the entire hub to get to them.

By the way, the companies which innovated air disc brakes weren't truck manufacturers - none of them ever offered a proprietary system. It was Bendix and Wabco who did.

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Q: Why are disc brakes not used on heavy vehicles?
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