BRAKING EFFECTIVENESS INSPECTION FOR VEHICLES WITH A MAM OVER 3500 kg USING THE EXTRAPOLATION METHOD

Abstract

In January 2012, Directive 2009/40/EC, of the European Parliament and of the Council, came into force, on roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles and their trailers, which Annex II was amended by Directive 2010/48/EU. This directive provides that, for measuring the braking effectiveness of vehicles of more than 3500 kg, it must be applies ISO 21069-1:2004 or equivalent method. The fundamental result is the establishment of braking effectiveness values for laden vehicles, which means, in practice, the change of the measurement procedures at Inspection Stations, with heavy investment in machinery and civil works, as well as pose a problem for users of certain types of vehicles that cannot go laden to inspections, such as buses and vehicles carrying dangerous goods. In this article, the procedures described in the above Directive will be analyzed in order to find the most suitable one for implementation in Inspection Stations, useful for all types of vehicles, minimizing these investments to be done and complying with the requirement indicated in the Directive: "technical inspection should be relatively simple, quick and cheap".