Mercedes Celebrates 40-Years of ABS

August 22 – 25, 1978 Mercedes-Benz and Bosch presented the Anti-Lock Braking System. 40 years later it looks like something usual but at that time it was an analog era in the automobile field. The premiere of the ABS system is held on the test track at the Daimler-Benz plant in Untertürkheim.

Mercedes-Benz S-Class saloons (model series 116) at the test track in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim, 1978. The upper vehicle with an anti-lock braking system (ABS) remains steerable, while the lower vehicle without ABS continues to slide uncontrollably, despite the front wheels being at full lock.

In 1978 the ABS was a very first digital driver assistance system developed by Mercedes. It was first available for the Mercedes S-Class model series 116 from the end of ’78. The ABS system is developed in order to give to the driver full control over the car’s steering even under emergency braking and to prevent locking the wheel or wheels.

Here is a quote from a Mercedes brochure describing the principle of the ABS, 40-years ago:

“The anti-lock braking system uses a computer to monitor the change in rotational speed of each wheel during braking. If the speed slows too quickly (such as when braking on a slippery surface) and the wheel risks locking, the computer automatically reduces the brake pressure. The wheel accelerates again and the brake pressure is increased again, thereby breaking the wheel. This process is repeated several times in a matter of seconds”.

Mercedes-Benz and Bosch and unveiled in 1978, the anti-lock braking system (ABS) was an addition to the conventional braking system, consisting in particular of speed sensors on both front wheels (1) and on the rear-axle drive pinion (4), an electronic control unit (2) and a hydraulic unit (3).

The main benefit of the ABS system is preventing the wheel locking and it gives the ability the driver to control the car. Otherwise, a car with locked wheels is like a sleigh. This system is good for any road case: in wet, snow, ice or changing road conditions.

As any other new technology the ABS was first available for the Mercedes S-Class model series 116 as an optional extra in late of 1978. At that time, this extra cost DM 2,217.60. In 1980 the anti-lock braking system was optionally available in every passenger car produced by Mercedes. In 1981 the system was integrated for commercial vehicle. Since 1992 the ABS has been installed as standard in all passenger cars. Nowadays, the system is a standard feature of any car worldwide.

The History

In 1953, Hans Scherenberg, then head of design at Mercedes-Benz, applied for a patent on a system to stop vehicles wheels locking under braking. At that time, a similar to the ABS systems is already available in aviation called anti-skid and on the railways called Konrr anti-slip protection. The ABS is system was a complex system in that time. It needed especially high demand on sensors, signal processing and control. The components had to register the rotational deceleration and acceleration of the wheels without an error, during at the time of cornering, irregular surfaces and in extremely dirty conditions.

ABS testing at the Stuttgart-Untertürkheim plant of Daimler-Benz AG. Comparison of the braking performance of S-Class saloons (model series 116) with (right) and without anti-lock braking system on a wet road surface.

In 1963 the Advance Development department of what was then Daimler-Benz AG had seeing the start of concrete work on an electronic-hydraulic brake control system. In 1966 the company began collaborating with Heidelberg electronics specialist Teldix, later taken by Bosch. The development of the system took 17 years and in 1970 the head of development at Daimler-Benz Hans Scherenberg presented analogue-electronic “Mercedes-Benz/Teldx Anti-Bloc System” to the media at the test track in Untertürkheim.

The ABS system was proved that works in 1970. Then the developers understood that a digital controller is the right approach for a mass-produced ABS. It’s more reliable, less complex while also much more powerful than the analogue-electronics. The second generation ABS is made in collaboration with Bosch, which delivered the digital control unit. Engineer Jürgen Paul, head of the ABS project at Mercedes-Benz, later described the decision in favor of digital microelectronics as the breakthrough moment in the development of ABS.

So, in the beginning was Anti-lock Braking System in 1978. Later, the ABS sensors together with other components were used in the follow system Acceleration Skid Control (1985), Electronic Stability Program ESP (1995), Brake Assist System (1996) and Adaptive Cruise Control DISTRONIC (1998).

Under braking when cornering, the anti-lock braking system maintains driving stability and steerability, provided the physically possible cornering speed has not already been exceeded. Test with a 1978 Mercedes S-Class model series 116 with ABS.

Since 1978, Mercedes-Benz has enormous enhance over the automobile industry with individual digital driver assistance system. All of Mercedes’s developments led to preventative safety system PRE-SAFE through to today’s Intelligent Drive Next Level.

What will be next?