Collision Sciences

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Spotlight 08 · Brake status “on” and ABS “on” — reading the fields together

What can brake and ABS fields establish about pre-impact driver response?

2 pages · Source updated 2026-10-11
Illustration of a vehicle data module sending hexadecimal data toward a crash report
Vehicle data → clearer evidence Concept illustration
In this resource

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Brake status “on” and ABS “on” — reading the fields together

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Case question

What can brake and ABS fields establish about pre-impact driver response?

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What the evidence showed

A Corolla pre-crash record showed brake status changing to on with ABS engaged at the final sample. The report also preserved speed and steering information over the same interval, allowing the braking evidence to be read in context.

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Practical takeaway

A brake-status field can show a recorded state, but it is not a complete mechanical inspection. Use it together with speed change, ABS state, timing and physical brake evidence.

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Reading the exhibit

Deceleration and distance-to-impact columns are derived from sampled speed, not independent EDR measurements. Distance is approximate displacement before the final pre-crash sample; sampling gaps, wheel slip, sensor latency and incomplete data can affect it. Read the calculated values with scene evidence and the source report’s limits.

The source evidence exhibit is provided below.

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Related resources

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Related cases

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Evidence exhibit

Source illustration, page 2
Source illustration · PDF page 2 · Enlarge image ↗

Complete pre-crash table for Most Recent (3rd Impact) from the Toyota Corolla report. Source pages 4 and 5 are shown in order, separated by a blank gap.

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