ATLANTA, Ga. – Bendix is continuing to work on the next generation of its active safety systems, which could reduce many types of crashes, including rear-enders and rollaways.

Fred Andersky, director, customer solutions, controls with Bendix, said at the North American Commercial Vehicle show that every 15 minutes in the U.S., a large truck rear-ends a passenger car. Those crashes can be mostly avoided using collision mitigation systems such as Bendix Wingman Fusion, which combines radar and camera technologies and intervenes when necessary to stop the truck.

The next generation of Wingman Fusion will bring faster reaction times.

“The next generation of Fusion will be out in mid-2018 and it will do even more,” Andersky said. “We will be able to scrub off even more speed, up to 50% more speed than the current Fusion 1 system.”

It will also be able to respond to roadway departures and the adaptive cruise control will allow drivers to creep along in heavy, slow moving traffic. Customers using the current generation of Wingman Fusion will be able to upgrade to the new version with their existing hardware.

Also in the works is Blindspotter 2.0, which will provide wider blind spot coverage. It’ll be out in the first quarter of 2018 and will be retrofittable.

Intellipark is a new electronic parking brake Andersky said could eliminate rollaways. Fleet testing will begin in 2018 with the product launched thereafter. And Bendix’s online safety portal SafetyDirect is also being upgraded with new capabilities.

On the wheel-end side of the business, Bendix is introducing a new EnduraSure spring brake that will offer three times longer spring life. It will be available in standard and premium levels. Keith McComsey, director, customer solutions, wheel-end, said power spring failure is the leading cause of spring brake-related problems. The premium offering will extend spring life to more than 2,000 hours. It has a sealed chamber to protect the spring and will reduce maintenance costs, McComsey said.

Bendix also has enhanced its drum brakes, by re-engineering the spider to take out weight. McComsey said 16 lbs of weight reduction per tandem axle set have been achieved.

Bendix now offers a trailer air disc brake, and in 2018, McComsey said, service managers will be able to check the friction material without removing the tire.

“That adds to the overall maintenance costs when doing your preventive maintenance for air disc brakes, and this is where pad wear sensing has an important role in indicating pad wear,” he explained. “It’s really there to indicate when the friction requires maintenance is imminent. The fleet will still have enough friction left on the pad to continue on with their operations, but it really provides them with communication so they can start to plan that maintenance and optimize their maintenance with other scheduled preventive maintenance opportunities.”