When did Disc Brakes become Common?

I was talking to my wife about how trucks especially would crash going downhill because of what in the 1950s and 1960s was called "Brake Failure" because we used Drum Brakes then instead of Disc Brakes. I think Drum Brakes were used first in Train brakes and then were just moved over to cars and trucks.

The problem with Drum Brakes (especially on large semi Trucks) was always brake fade going down long hills with 6% grades. So, many trucks crashed around the world in condtions like this from "Brake Fade" on long hills. Over Time this problem pretty much went away when we switched to Disc Brakes so less people had to die of Brake Fade.

Brake Fade was also a problem for cars and pickup trucks pulling heavy trailers. 

One way to avoid problems then was Downshifting into a lower gear thereby stressing the brakes less and putting the weight problem onto the engine and transmission instead.

One story that saved my life in a motor home (a 6 passenger diesel stick shift Motor Home) I rented  in Munich, Germany in 1999 with my then 10 year old daughter and my mother who was then around 80 years old. It's kind of funny now because I'm presently 77 years old only 3 years younger than my mother was then. 

However, what happened was that I was driving in snow across the Swiss Alps back to Munich Germany to drop off the Motor Home there and to fly with my mother and 10 years old daughter to London and to spend a week in London before we flew back to San Francisco, California in the U.S. However, there are no guard rails in Switzerland (at least in 1999) in the mountains so if you make a mistake you are likely to fall thousands of feet in your vehicle from many or most of the roads in the Swiss Alps. So, when. Semi Truck was coming up hill and I was going down there was very little Clearance and without downshifting into a lower gear I would have careened off the road thousands of feet then with my mother and 10 year old daughter.

However, Luckily we all survived this and I could drive back to Munich to deliver our motor home back to where I rented it and then fly to London to Heathrow Airport and eventually a week later back to San Francisco and home. 

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Disc brakes became common in automobiles in the 1950s, with widespread adoption in the 1960s and 1970s, as cars became heavier and faster, increasing the demand for superior braking power and heat dissipation. While first patented in 1902 and used on a few high-end cars by the 1950s (like the 1955 Citroën DS and the 1953 Austin-Healey 100S), their widespread use was initially hindered by the lower cost and sufficiency of drum brakes for most vehicles. In the 1990s, disc brakes became standard on the rear wheels of cars.  

The transition to disc brakes:

• Early Development (1900s-1940s):

  The disc brake was patented by William Lanchester in 1902, but remained uncommon in automobiles for decades. 

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• When did disc brakes become the standard for cars and why ...

  30 Jan 2018 — Discs on the front have been pretty much standard since the 70s though they became a common option in the late 60s, and...

  

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The Mid-20th Century (1950s):

The demand for greater stopping power and better heat management in heavier, faster cars highlighted the limitations of drum brakes. Race cars and a few high-end models began to use disc brakes, such as the Citroën DS in 1955. 

Becoming Common (1960s-1970s):

Disc brakes started appearing as options on passenger cars in the late 1960s and became standard on front wheels by the 1970s. 

Rear Wheels (1990s onwards):

The 1990s saw disc brakes become common on the rear wheels of vehicles, especially more powerful cars. 

Disc brake - Wikipedia

In 1953, 50 aluminum-bodied Austin-Healey 100S (Sebring) models, built primarily for racing, were the first European cars sold to ...

Wikipedia

The History of Vehicle Brakes - Howie's Car Corral

First used in Duesenbergs, the four-wheel hydraulic braking system was standard on most higher-priced cars by 1929. Eventually, th...

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