Shortage of ABS Sensors Slows Motorcycle Production

[advrider]

Anti-lock braking systems, or ABS, have become commonplace in the motorcycle market in the last few years, even at the entry level. While ABS in the automotive world has been standard fare since the 1990s, the technology needed to adapt to two-wheeled use and the different forces involved with a single-track, leaning vehicle, before becoming available en masse for motorcycles. While ABS not only helps to slow a motorcycle safely, recently it has also slowed production of motorcycles so equipped, due to a shortage of ABS sensors worldwide, with the potential to reduce the number of models available on the market with the technology.

According to moto-station.com, while several companies manufacture motorcycle ABS on the market, the majority of them receive their sensors from component manufacturer Texas Instruments (TI), who appears to be the bottleneck in the supply chain. TI blames a shortage of raw materials for their inability to deliver the necessary sensors.

A Honda equipped with ABS. Photo: Honda

This supply issue is not limited to motorcycle ABS components, either, as digitaltrends.com reports many major tech companies are pointing the finger at TI as the source for the global chip shortage as a whole. TI is a leader in the production of analog chips, an important building block for manufacturers such as TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) which is the world’s largest semiconductor company.

On the motorcycle front, the shortage of components may cause manufacturers to temporarily drop ABS from some models, which can be problematic, since the ABS sensors also inform traction control systems as well. This would mirror the automotive market, where even luxury manufacturers have had to de-content certain models of features such as heated seats, due to the chip shortage.

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