Brakes and Traction Control: Description and Operation

When a vehicle needs to be stopped, the driver applies the brake pedal. The brake pedal pushes the input rod of the power brake booster into the booster. The booster uses vacuum to ease pedal effort as force is transferred through the booster to the master cylinder. The booster's output rod pushes in the master cylinder's primary and secondary pistons applying hydraulic pressure through the chassis brake tubes and proportioning valves to the brakes at each tire and wheel assembly.

Front disc brakes control the braking of the front wheels; rear braking is controlled by rear drum brakes or rear disc brakes depending on options.

Non-Antilock Brake Hydraulic Brake Tube Routing And Fitting Locations:

Antilock Brake Hydraulic Brake Tube Routing And Fitting Locations:

The hydraulic brake system is diagonally split on both the non-antilock and antilock braking systems. This means the left front and right rear brakes are on one hydraulic circuit and the right front and left rear are on the other.

Vehicles equipped with the optional Antilock Brake System (ABS) use a system designated Mark 20i, which is supplied by ITT Teves. It is available with or without traction control. This system shares most base brake hardware used on vehicles without ABS. A vehicle equipped with ABS, however, uses an Integrated Control Unit (ICU), four wheel speed sensors, and an electronic controller referred to as the Controller Antilock Brake (CAB). These components are described in detail in Antilock Brake System.

The parking brakes are foot-operated. When applied, the parking brake lever pulls on cables that actuate brake shoes at each rear wheel. The parking brake mechanism has an automatic adjusting feature that takes up any excessive slack in the parking brake system.