The Automotive Blog

The SMMT is calling on the DFT to clear confusion over trailer brake testing.  Some trailer makers believe it should be possible to test and type approve a brake system on one trailer and then for other trailer makers, using the same kit to use the same approval from the Vehicle Certification Agency.  The purpose being to save the cost of a test for each trailer type.  “This collaborative approach to brakes system testing is not permitted under UNECE Regulation 13 that sets out the requirements for the type approval of trailer braking,” says Allan McKenzie, senior technical manager for the Society.  “If a trailer from one maker uses the same running gear and braking system as another, there is no guarantee that it will get the required braking performance without locking its wheels and as a result, failing the test.  The outcome of the test depends on the installation of the components and the build quality of the chassis.”  McKenzie believes the DfT should clear the confusion before trailer makers waste time, effort and money.

Another option to test trailer brakes is the BrakeCheck TT (Truck & Trailer).

This brake tester is not for manufacturers type approval but for a brake test on a 6 weekly maintenance inspection.

Contact aide automotive to enquire further.

Trailer Brake Testing is becoming an essential element of vehicle maintenance as VOSA puts more pressure on operators to not only brake test the truck but also test the trailer as well!

Brake Testers such as BrakeCheck are excellent tools to test brakes and demonstrate their efficiency for both the truck and the trailer, but it won’t allow you to test each individual wheel. To identify which wheel is defective you’ll also need to use a tool such as a Infra Red Thermometer. Using this device in addition to a brake tester is a very useful way of checking individual wheel disks or drums to determine brake activation. VOSA recommend the use of Infra Red Thermometers and see them as good practice in any workshop, in fact they’re also using themsleves for road side tests. With the ease of just pointing the gun at the wheel hub from the outer edge of a trailer or truck and without removing wheels this device is ideal to complete a brake check.

aide automotive have also introduced another new product in response to this growing demand, The BrakeCheck TT. This new brake tester tests both the Truck and the Trailer! It allows operators to use the report produced to demonstrate brake effiency on the vehicle. Using a decelerometer to test trailer brakes is a positive method for any operator to achieve further regular testing that can be recorded and used as evidence if required. In today’s world of “Duty Of Care” all management staff need to increase their awareness of reporting and detailing what best they can do to achieve a safe working environment for employees and the general public. BrakeCheck TT will conduct a tractor unit and then tractor and trailer test, reporting both tests on one simple report. With the option to download the test to a PC or print out through a portable printer, hard copy evidence of trailer braking can be recorded with ease and at a cost effective solution.

Brake Testing for trucks and trailers

Brake Testing and Tyre Pressure Monitoring have never been so important for fleet managers!  The first ever criminal case of corporate manslaughter recently reached it’s final verdict and Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings were found guilty of the death of a 27-year-old geologist, who died when a trench in which he was working collapsed. Prosecutors successfully argued that the company had failed to take reasonably precautions to prevent the trench from collapsing and protect Alex Wright, the geologist from his working conditions.

Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings, his employer has been fined £385,000, this is a smaller amount than originally anticipated and there was no prison sentence either. However this is a significant fine however small or large your business. This case acts as an example to all organisations to ensure that helath and safety is top of the corporate agenda.

Companies running fleets of vehicles should take heed of the sentencing and ensure that they are not only regularly testing and checking brakes and tyres of their vehicles but can also demonstrate that they have been following these procedures.

aide automotive have two products that can ensure these health and safety checks are carried out and to avoid any such cases being bought against your company!

For Tyre Pressure Monitoring use PressurePro or Air Alert to ensure your vehicle has the correct PSI for your tyres

For Brake Testing use BrakeCheck,

Many companies are still not taking these procedures seriously but this first case should now demonstrate how serious an issue corporate manslaughter is to a business

Brake Testing for commercial vehicles

Tyre Pressure Monitor, PressurePro

Brake Testing is an important precedure for vehicles and now there is a new device that tests the brakes on both thetruck and the trailer. RJ Edwards in Warrington have trialled this new product and have been instrumental in it’s development, giving valuable feedback from testing it on it’s own vehicles and allowing the manufacturers to develop the product accordingly

After a recent test inspection for RJ Edwards with VOSA planned from a view to expand their fleet, they demonstrated the new product to VOSA, who agreed it would be an acceptable tool for a Brake Tester on Trailers and Trucks.

Trevor Edwards owner of RJ Edwards says. We needed to purchase a Brake Tester for our vehicles and when looking what was on the market it seemed that we were going to have to buy two separate brake testers, one for the truck and one for the trailer. However aide automotive had the perfect solution for us, BrakeCheck TT is a dual unit enabling me to test both the truck and the trailer with the same unit! This device has saved me the hassle and the cost of buying two separate units, I now have one tester not two. We can’t recommend this product to other companies enough

This new version of the product is called BrakeCheck TT – Brakecheck for Truck and Trailer. BrakeCheck has been proven to be an excellent inspection sheet brake tester for all commercial vehicles with over 11000 testers sold since 2002. With many commercial operators and repairers using the BrakeCheck to conduct a VOSA accepted brake test on every inspection, BrakeCheck is the number 1 decelerometer on the market today!

Visit aide automotive for more details

Brake Testers are an important health and safety procedure, and now aide automotive are pleased to announce the latest decelerometer from the BrakeCheck product range called “BrakeCheck TT “ BrakeCheck 4 Truck & Trailer.

 BrakeCheck has been proven to be an excellent inspection sheet brake tester for all commercial vehicles with over 11000 testers sold since 2002. With many commercial operators and repairers using the BrakeCheck to conduct a VOSA accepted brake test on every inspection, BrakeCheck is the number 1 decelerometer on the market today!

With this aide automotive have introduced a new version to help operators move forward with commercial trailers and to conduct a brake test upon inspection.

BrakeCheck TT will test tractor units, rigid trucks and also incorporates a 99 test memory on the service, hand and trailer brake test, a total of 297 tests. The trailer brake test feature enables repairers and internal maintenance workshops to conduct an inspection sheet brake test of a commercial trailer.

 Using a decelerometer to test trailer brakes is a positive method for any operator to achieve further regular testing that can be recorded and used as evidence if required. With “Duty Of Care” being top of the agenda for most managers, staff need to demonstrate what best they can do to achieve a safe working environment for employees and the general public.

 BrakeCheck TT will conduct a tractor unit and then tractor and trailer test, reporting both tests on one simple report. With the option to download the test to a PC or print out through a portable printer, hard copy evidence of trailer braking can be recorded with ease and at a cost effective solution.

 VOSA offered guidance on testing commercial trailers and advised, “The way to use a decelerometer is to first test the drawing vehicle on its own. Then connect the trailer and the deceleration rate should be similar i.e. the trailer is doing its fair share of work. This is not an exact science but would be enough to give you confidence the trailer brakes were working.”

Further more in the BrakeCheck TT kit aide automotive include an Infra Red Thermometer. The simple practice of checking disc or drum temperatures takes testing a step further to help indicate individual wheel performance on a trailer or truck, from a repairers perspective being able to indicate if an individual wheel is performing efficiently or not is ideal as a pre roller test check. VOSA often use infra red thermometers at road side checks as a way of testing individual brake performance.

 BrakeCheck TT can be purchased singularly or as a kit, with the option to download to a PC or print via a portable printer, BrakeCheck TT is supplied in a case with all required accessories such as chargers and spare paper rolls for the printer, with a designated space for the thermometer this kit is ideal for a workshop or mobile operation.

BrakeCheck TT With Printer, Case and accessories – £669.00

Add an Infra Red Thermometer to the kit for extra £69.00

Or

BrakeCheck TT with PC Download Kit – 584.00 

All the above prices exclude carriage & VAT.

Visit aide automotive to contact us for more details

Brake Testing becomes an essential part of vehicle maintenance as VOSA  gets tough new powers to seize vehicles in a bid to crack down on illegal bus and limousine operators.   This brings  the rules on public service vehicles into line with those for trucks, which take brake tests seriously.  “Illegal bus, coach and limousine operators put the safety of their passengers and other road users at risk as well as creating unfair competition for law abiding businesses,” said Paul Clark, road safety minister.  “These new powers show that we are determined to force cowboy operators off the road.”  By regularly checking the brakes on these vehicles  will enable operators to demonstrate these checks to VOSA. BrakeCheck enables a vehicle operator to check the vehicles brakes and demonstrate to VOSA that these Brake Checks have been done!

aide automotive has a number of automotive products

Brake Tester

Brake Testing should form part of vehicle maintenance routine, however VOSA are reporting that Van fleets are ignoring the need for regular maintenance checks and disregarding mechanical failures. They claim that this is a greater problem with vans than with heavy goods or PSV operators.

Over 50% of the 21,000 roadside checks VOSA conducted on vans throughout 2009 uncovered mechanical defects, compared to 24% of HGVs and 15% of PSVs. The most common issue was faulty brakes.

In addition, almost half (45%) of vans fail their MoT compared to 34% of HGVs and 24% of PSVs.

Graham Owen, VOSA area manager says fleets would be held criminally responsible for unroadworthy vehicles or drivers as VOSA has the authority and responsibility to remove them from the road. He insists that vans should follow the same good practice as HGVs, as laid out in the ‘O’ licence on preventative maintenance. In particular making it the driver’s responsibility to do a daily walk-round of the vehicle to ensure it is in a roadworthy condition, and keeping records to demonstrate this

Don’t rely on the MoT – it’s the worst standard you can apply,” Owen warned. “It is the minimum standard of a vehicle that has ticked the boxes at a moment in time. You want your standard to be higher so that over the period between inspection – whether that’s 12 weeks, six months or a year – you never fall below the compliance line.”

These checks could include regular brake testing with products such as Brake Check.

Visit aide automotive for a full list of automotive products

BrakeCheck. Make brake Testing part of your routine vehicle checks

The easiest way to prevent any prohibitions from VOSA however serious is to consider regular Brake Testing and Tyre Pressure Monitoring. By using a Brake Tester like BrakeCheck you can demonstrate that you’ve been testing on a regular basis. Similarly a Tyre Pressure Monitor such as PressurePro allows you to check you have the correct tyre pressure for your vehicle.

One Staffordshire firm recently discovered the consequences of not regularly maintaining their vehicles. Stoke-on-Trent firm, Dime Metal Services had its licence revoked from 7 August, and its boss disqualified from applying for a new licence for 15 months.

The operator has had its O-licence revoked after a Deputy Traffic Commissioner (DTC) described their vehicles as a “significant danger to other road users” due to lack of maintenance and regular testing of brakes and tyres. West Midlands Deputy Traffic Commissioner Roger Seymour said the company had shown an “almost total disregard of the law and obligations of operator licensing”.

VOSA inspectors carried out maintenance investigations into the company and identified eight prohibitions – three of which were S-marked – were imposed on the firm. They are related to “very serious” brake and tyre issues.

The DTC summarised “Looking at the evidence overall, I find that this operator has failed to discharge his responsibilities and undertakings to maintain his vehicles in a roadworthy condition to the point where the continued use of his vehicles constituted a significant danger to other road users.”

Check out aide automotive for our full product range.

Brake Tester

BrakeCheck is probably the number one decelerometer for MOT garages as back up to the roller brake tester.

It is by a legal requirement for all MOT garages to have a back up to the roller brake tester and to have facility to test brakes of vehicles that cannot be tested on the roller brake tester. Such vehicles are 4 wheeled drives and vehicles with low suspension.

BrakeCheck is also approved for Class 1 & 2, quad and tri bike MOT testing.

BrakeCheck replaces the old traditional mechanical meter such as Tapley.

With over 10,000 brake testers sold, BrakeCheck is the number 1 decelerometer for an MOT Garage.

aide automotive market the BrakeCheck.

BrakeCheck the MOT Garages Number 1 Decelerometer

BrakeCheck is the device to conduct regular brake tests.  Brake testing on a regular basis is crucial to running a safe, efficient and cost effective organisation. Failure to do so can results in severe penalties from fines to imprisonment.

BrakeCheck gives drivers and operators the back up to report promptly any defects or symptoms of defects that could adversely affect the safe operation of their vehicles. A portable battery-powered device that can be used by vehicle workshops, government traffic authorities, testing and inspection stations to test and report on vehicle brake efficiency. BrakeCheck is VOSA & MOT approved. VOSA are continually advising operators, commercial repairers and in house workshops to complete regular inspection sheet brake test. BrakeCheck will conduct a service, secondary & parking brake test with ease and store in its memory for later printing via PC or portable printer.

Find out more about BrakeCheck or more of aide automotive products