Problem statement:
Brake failure in vehicles is serious issue and it is classified as ‘ASIL D’ hazardous in automotive. The common reason for brake failure is wearing of brake pad.

Solution:
-->Current brake pad wear indication technique has a wire loop inside the abrasive material. This wire loop is connected to the control unit of the vehicle. When the brake pad wears, wire loop get open circuited and it is detected by the control unit of the vehicle. Thus the brake pad wear indication is provided to the vehicle user.
-->With the wire loop technique, the vehicle user can be alerted with certain percent of abrasive material remaining in the brake pad and need to be replaced. This has disadvantage that the remaining abrasive material is unused once the brake pad is replaced as soon as the brake pad wear indication occurs.
-->In this product idea, the wire loop is replaced by micro level fabricated silicon strip, the length of this micro strip is exactly equal to the thickness of the abrasive material of the brake pad.
-->For every application of brake, the brake pad wears and also the micro strip. The change in length of the micro strip is detected by the control unit of the vehicle. Thus the brake pad wear can be calibrated and completed erosion of the abrasive material is dynamically monitored.

Added advantages:
-->The vehicle user can get information about distance can be driven until the completed usage of brake pad.
-->Monitor the driving style of the user, i.e., either hard braking or soft braking. This can be detected by measuring the rate of wear for each application of brake.

Target customer:
Brake pad has lifetime of 30k to 70k miles.
User who replaces brake pads frequently or vehicles which run 24X7 (ex., commercial vehicle and taxi) can get benefit from this product.

Manufacturability:
Brake pads are manufactured by hydraulic pressing of the powdered abrasive material on base metal. The micro strip can be easily incorporated in the powdered abrasive material during pressing.