Safety and Economic Benefits of Heavy Truck Retarder Use

Retarders of various kinds to augment the braking system for trucks and buses can lead to three economic benefits: brake wear may be reduced, so that long-term maintenance costs will be lower; speed of travel on long downgrades may be increased, leading to shorter total trip time; and the probability of a runaway accident may be reduced, with consequent savings in damage and injury.

All of these potential savings depend on the typical trip profile for the vehicle in Question. In this paper the likely benefits in reduced brake maintenance, productivity, and accident reduction are computed for a variety of trucking operations, and data are furnished in enough detail to permit a particular user to estimate the value of adding retarders to his vehicles.