News BRIEFS Feeling Salty?


Jason Johnson, the service equipment manager at Horsehead Central School District, not far from the New York-Pennsylvania bor- der, said the biggest challenge with brake service is the winter elements. Along with snow and ice comes corrosive road salt, or sodium chloride. Horsehead is located within the U.S. Snow Belt, so its a part of a region susceptible to severe road salt destruction. If you have seen what de-icing salt does to vehicle paint and metal on just about anything else, just imag- ine what ultrafine particles of salt mist can do to brake components as it settles into all the nooks and crannies. “It can get in anywhere,” added Johnson, who is also the president of


Along with rollover mitigation, electronic stability control technology, such as Bendix ESP (shown here on a Blue Bird Vision), can help school bus drivers maintain control of the vehicle on wet, snow and ice-covered roadways.


Control+Alt+ESC WRITTEN BY RYAN GRAY | RYAN@STNONLINE.COM F


or the latest innovations in school bus braking and handling, many operators are turning to Electronic Stability Controls, or ESC. All three of the main, large school bus manufacturers offer an option or soon will, despite school buses being exempt from recent NHTSA action requiring the inno- vations to monitor wheel speed, steering angle and brake pressure for motorcoaches and tractor-trailers. ESC is designed to correct oversteer or understeer, as


well as perform in both dry and wet road conditions. Te technology, of course, is tried and true as it has been around for the past 12 years in the heavy-duty trucking and motorcoach segments. As such, school bus operators and maintenance experts may have a basic to advanced understanding of ESC principles. Fred Andersky, director of customer solutions at


Bendix, explained that the Bendix ESP, the company’s branded ESC solution, is built onto the ABS brake system, which most school bus professionals are very knowledgeable of. Bendix ESP brings added stability and traction controls to ABS, along with sensors that monitor wheel slip, steer angle to measure driver intent, lateral acceleration to measure side-to-side motion and YAW rate to gauge vehicle direction. “Te way I always like to describe it is, when the


driver turns left and the system reads that vehicle reads that the vehicle is going left, everything is good,” said Andersky. “When the driver goes left and the vehicle goes any other direction but left, that’s when the system


16 School Transportation News • FEBRUARY 2016 æ


the New York Head Mechanics Association. Tis makes brake inspections a vital part of Horsehead CSD’s pre-


ventive maintenance operations. Two shop employees team up on each brake job, and they completely uninstall the brakes to follow New York Department of Transportation guidelines. Tis means cleaning and inspecting the drums, shoes and rollers for cracking fatigue. Ten all parts must be re-greased and put back together again. To make brake PM more efficient, Johnson said the district began


purchasing new buses with Bendix disc brakes. He explained that disc calipers provide a better stop and offer more control for drivers. And shop staff no longer have to remove 80-pound drums. “Tey have much (fewer) parts so less can go wrong,” he added. “Less moving parts is a win-win situation and a lot safer.” When it comes to brake diagnostics. Johnson said getting ahead of issues is a must for today’s fleet manager. Horsehead uses Bendix system software that plugs into the vehicle and monitors all ABS sensors and faults. “If you don’t move with the technology, you’ll be left behind.” Meanwhile, Perfor- mance Friction Brakes recommends regular washing of buses, especially in winter months, to remove cor- rosive salt spray from brake components. Company represen-


tatives said traditional wash systems work, but they suggested that even better is a concentrated undercarriage wash, which can direct water directly to the most vulnerable areas. PFC Brakes also offers a brake kit consisting of anodized and powder-coated, aluminum calipers, two-piece rotors that are more heat resistant and thicker brake pads with anti-cor- rosion material baked in to prevent crumbling of friction material. Webb Wheel said it refers fleets to the TMC Recommended Practices


Manual, which outline PM practices. VP of Engineering Johnathon Capps called road salts “a significant concern” because the solution leads to premature replacement of rotors with ABS teeth due to signal fault as well as delamination of the rotor itself. “To combat this, we recently re- leased our LifeShield technology,” he added. “Tis consists of a heat treat- ment process, which protects the entire rotor from corrosive agents. l


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