Types of Brakes

An anti-lock braking system or anti-skid braking system (ABS) is an automobile safety system that allows the wheels on a motor vehicle to maintain tractive contact with the road surface according to driver inputs while braking, preventing the wheels from locking up (ceasing rotation) and avoiding uncontrolled skidding.

Image Gallery: Brakes Most modern cars have disc brakes on the front wheels, and some have disc brakes on all four wheels. This is the part of the brake system that does the actual work of stopping the car.

Drum brakes work on the same principle as disc brakes: Shoes press against a spinning surface. In this system, that surface is called a drum. Many cars have drum brakes on the rear wheels and disc brakes on the front.

Auxiliary brakes are more commonly called a parking brake, an emergency brake, or a handbrake, and are connected to calipers that grip onto the rear wheel rotors. These are not the same calipers that the normal brakes use because the emergency brake system is separate from the main brakes in case of brake failure.