Product Description
Bendix Corporation, later acquired by Allied-Signal Inc. in 1983 and consolidated into Honeywell International in 1999, allegedly supplied a distinct line of heavy-duty brake linings engineered for Class 7 and Class 8 commercial tractors, semi-trailers, straight trucks, transit buses, refuse haulers, and municipal fleet vehicles. According to publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation, these heavy-truck linings were substantially thicker, wider, and denser than Bendix’s passenger-car friction products, and were formulated to withstand the sustained thermal loading of loaded-tractor descents, urban stop-and-go service, and repeated grade retardation.
Plaintiffs allegedly identified Bendix heavy-truck linings as original-equipment and aftermarket friction material fitted to 15-inch, 16-1/2-inch, and 20-inch drum-brake assemblies used on Fruehauf, Great Dane, Trailmobile, Strick, and comparable trailer platforms, as well as on Freightliner, Kenworth, Peterbilt, Mack, Ford, GMC, International Harvester, and White tractor lines. Publicly filed litigation records allegedly reference Bendix heavy-truck linings sold through OEM dealer parts networks, independent brake jobber warehouses, and heavy-duty aftermarket distributors serving over-the-road, local delivery, and municipal fleets.
Workers Exposed
According to publicly filed U.S. asbestos litigation, workers allegedly exposed to Bendix heavy-truck brake linings included diesel mechanics in truck-stop repair bays, fleet-terminal shops, dealer service departments, trailer-repair yards, and municipal maintenance garages. Plaintiffs allegedly described change-out procedures that involved knocking worn linings free from cast shoes with hammers or presses, blowing accumulated friction dust from drums and backing plates with compressed air, arc-grinding new linings to match worn drum diameters, and sweeping shop floors coated with fine dark friction residue. Each of these tasks allegedly released respirable chrysotile fibers into the mechanic’s breathing zone.
Bystander workers — parts runners, apprentices, welders, tire technicians, and dispatchers moving through the shop — allegedly inhaled airborne fibers generated by nearby heavy-brake work. Municipal transit-authority and refuse-department mechanics allegedly encountered Bendix heavy-truck linings on a compressed maintenance cycle because urban duty exhausted friction material rapidly.