HDT’s Top 20 Products of 2018
By HDT Staff
The most significant trucking products for 2018 as chosen by Heavy Duty Trucking magazine’s editors.
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How do you go about choosing the best new product announcements of the past year? It’s not an easy process. First, HDT’s editors individually go back through all the products we reported on, in the magazine or on Truckinginfo.com, and pull out the ones we feel are the most significant.
The ones singled out by the most editors are summarized and sent to a small group of fleet professionals to evaluate — this year, it was our HDT Truck Fleet Innovators, as well as our Emerging Leaders.
Products are evaluated in three areas:
- Innovation
- Addressing industry issues
- Potential to affect a fleet’s bottom line
In order to be considered, a product must be commercially available or reasonably expected to be commercially available this year. We don’t consider full vehicles. And we award only one product per company (joint ventures may be considered as a separate company.) The resulting Top 20 products are listed in alphabetical order by company name. This year, a tie in our fleet scoring resulted in us actually having 21 products.
The awards will be presented during individual ceremonies at the ATA’s Technology & Maintenance Council annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, in early March and at MATS at the end of March.
1. Accuride Rolliant Hub System
The Accuride Rolliant Hub System was developed in response to industry demand for a more affordable hub system that was easy to install and maintain and could last the life of both trucks and trailers. Accuride says it’s the first long-life, low-maintenance hub system to come with a 10-year warranty for trailer applications and a seven-year warranty for trucks. Its patent-pending technology maintains tight wheel-bearing tolerances for safe, reliable performance, preventing premature tire wear, wheel seal failure, and premature bearing failure.
