Knorr-Bremse offered the chance to get a closer look at just how its suite of safety systems works recently at its first Drive Days event since 2019.

How fast do you need to be travelling to cause a truck rollover when taking a turn just a little too tightly? 90km/h? 80?

As we found out, a rollover can occur at as low as 50km/h. That is almost fast enough to cause a rollover incident – at least it would, without modern rollover prevention technology and safety systems.

Electronic Stability Programs (ESP) became compulsory for many heavy vehicles from January 2022, and from February 2025 will be expanded to also cover goods vehicles above 3.5 tonnes (ADR 35/07). This is in addition to Advanced Emergency Braking Systems (AEBS), which will also be mandatory in new heavy goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) as of February 1, 2025 (ADR 97/00).

Companies like Knorr-Bremse have been anticipating this, giving trucking operators and industry professionals the chance to experience their safety technologies at their recent Drive Days event in Shepparton.

We had the chance to jump inside the trucks on display, most predominantly a Kenworth T410 towing a trailer with an outrigger setup to feel just how much these electronic systems do to keep your wheels – all of them – on the road.

Knorr-Bremse engineer Desmond Chin took us through the whole demonstration, with four different steps to show off just how the systems, both on the truck and trailer, work automatically to prevent a rollover incident.

The tests were split up into four different scenarios, allowing the passenger to observe how the systems work both individually and together.

On the first ride around the track, all systems were completely turned off – we were at the mercy of the truck and the road itself.

Desmond accelerated to just over 50km/h, and started a turn which most certainly felt sharper than it actually no doubt was in reality. Even barely going faster than what you would down a suburban street, the outrigger wheels hit the ground, meaning that without those, the truck would have rolled over.

After this heart-pumping exercise, things were a little bit easier on the anxious passenger. The stability system was turned back on for the truck, but the trailer was left inactive in terms of ESP.

In the second test, going at the same speed but with the ESP switched on, the truck would automatically slow down to a safe speed when going through the turn – this is how the Knorr-Bremse system prevents the truck from rolling.

In the third test, the goal was to aim for as fast a speed as possible around a circle marked on the skidpad, with ESP still active. The maximum that the truck would reach was 38km/h, with ESP taking away engine torque to keep the combination at a safe speed, preventing a rollover.

Roll Stability Program (RSP) is also available on the trailer – that is where TEBS, or Trailer Electronic Braking System, comes in.

Both the truck and the trailer used in the demonstration house Knorr-Bremse safety systems, and even with just the TEBS active, the rollover prevention braking is incredibly smooth and almost unnoticeable from the passenger seat.