Auto Glossary

This Brake Assist System (BAS), developed by Mercedes-Benz to shorten emergency stopping distances, takes over if a driver doesn't apply enough braking power in a critical situation. The system automatically develops maximum brake boost, thus reducing the actual stopping distance by a significant margin (according to Mercedes-Benz in-house tests, by almost 45%).

The belt force limiter is located inside the inertia reel on the belt housing and consists of a torsion bar. When a force exceeding a certain level acts on the belt strap, the torsion bar produces a controlled reduction in the locking effect of the inertia reel. In other words, it automatically limits the stress on the occupants chest in the case of sudden braking or a frontal collision.

BEVs are vehicles powered exclusively by electricity stored in rechargeable battery packs.

Brake Force Display is a system developed by BMW for alerting tailgating drivers of a potential hazard in front of their vehicle. It works by increasing the intensity of the brake lights under heavy braking. The extra lighting is triggered only after the ABS sensors detect a rate of deceleration in excess of 5 m/second (emergency braking), but not under normal braking in order to avoid unnecessary illumination.

Brake Horsepower is the imperial (or British) measure of an engine’s horsepower, and it is about 0.98 out of a metric horsepower.

Bi-Xenon headlamps are actually normal xenon headlamps which use a single lamp to produce both the high beam and the low beam. The full light beam is used to produce the high beam, while the low beam is produced by moving a shutter between the bulb and the lens, thus blocking off a portion of the total light.

The blind spot monitor is a sensor used to pick up other vehicles located to the driver's side and to the rear, when a regular side mirror or the drivers themselves are unable to see.

The leaning motion of a vehicle's body while turning into a corner. Also known as yaw angle.

The bars you can step up onto on the side of an SUV or an off-roader, making entry and exit a little easier. They are mostly found on American cars.

The power that an engine produces at low revs (at the "bottom end" of the rev range).

The brake caliper looks almost like a normal measuring caliper and is part of the disc brake. When brakes are applied, hydraulic fluid forces the brake pads using one or several pistons in the calipers towards the discs, causing the discs to squeezed.

Any type of brake gets heated up after repeated or hard use. Apart from ceramic or any other ceramic alloy disc, all brakes diminish their effectiveness after they get heated up. This is called brake fade.

In braking, lockup describes the point at which a wheel stops rotating while the vehicle is still in motion. This mostly happens in emergency stopping situations on vehicles which do not have ABS (Anti-lock Braking System).

The distance that the driver's foot has to push the brake pedal before achieving optimum braking.