The brake pad wear sensor is a single-use, but nevertheless essential piece of equipment. It performs the job of alerting you when your brake pads are wearing thin, which in turn triggers a warning light to indicate that it’s time to replace the brakes. 

In additional to warning the driver of worn brake pads, the sensor can also estimate how many kilometers the brake pad has left. The brake pad wear sensors can be single-stage or multi-stage sensors. Multi-stage sensors have resistor circuits at different heights in the sensor housing. When the first resistor circuit breaks, the vehicle’s information center will start calculating the remaining brake pad life using various inputs such as mileage, wheel speed, brake pressure, break temperature and brake operating time.

The automotive industry has seen a rise in consumer demand for vehicle safety features in different weather and environment conditions. This becomes more important for road users and fleet managers in terms of automated driving. Here, the resistor circuits of the multi-stage brake pad wear sensors enable the calculation of remaining pad life and predicts when they’ll need to be replaced. This is crucial in preventing accidents, enhancing safety and reducing maintenance costs in an automated failure