Buses Get Smart Braking System

Thomas Built, a subsidiary of Daimler Trucks North America LLC, announced it will offer the Bendix Intellipark electronic parking brake as factory-installed optional equipment on its Saf-T-Liner C2 bus and as factory-installed standard equipment on the Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley electric bus, effective July 1, 2020. Thomas Built is the first school bus original equipment manufacturer to make Intellipark available.

Intellipark helps prevent rollaway and runaway crashes by automatically setting the parking brake if the driver exits the vehicle without setting it. Additionally, it offers ease of use and clear indication of parking brake status, Bendix said.

Intellipark’s rollaway prevention capability is made possible through interlocks – installed in critical areas such as vehicle speed, ignition, foot brake, and door – that can engage the parking brake electronically in circumstances where the system determines that the vehicle is stationary and should have the park brakes activated. The custom interlocks also prevent unintentional park brake release.

Intellipark replaces the traditional yellow push/pull knob with an easy-to-flip switch that requires less effort and doesn’t deliver the popping “sting” that comes with manually activating a 120-psi hand-controlled brake valve, Bendix said.