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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued its final rule requiring heavy-truck manufacturers to install onboard diagnostic systems starting in 2010 to alert drivers when engine emission systems are malfunctioning or deteriorating.

ATLANTA — Meritor WABCO demonstrated its new automatic braking system for heavy-duty trucks that is integrated with its anti-lock braking and stability control systems. Executives said the system can cut accident rates, especially rear-end collisions, which account for nearly 20% of all truck-involved crashes.

There are signs that the rise of global tire imports to the United States is beginning to slow as the economy weakens and costs increase.

The number of U.S. Class 8 trucks on the road at the end of the third quarter dropped by 17,000 from a year earlier, the first year-to-year decline since research firm R.L. Polk & Co. began reporting on truck fleets in 2003.

Less-than-truckload carrier Saia Inc. said it will make lane departure warning systems standard for all new tractors.

Navistar International Corp. will use federal emission credits to enable its new Class 8 engine to meet 2010 federal emission standards, although the engine could be set up to comply with the regulation without the credits, a Navistar executive said.

NAVTEQ announced last week that it will acquire T-Systems Traffic GmbH, a German traffic data firm.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — ABF Freight System will use diesel engines with selective catalytic reduction technology starting in 2010, but the less-than-truckload carrier has not decided upon the truck maker it will use.

Prodded by soaring fuel prices and the contracting economy, shippers have spent most of 2008 trying to pare transportation spending to meet demands by company executives looking for antidotes to stagnant revenue growth.

When heavy-duty engines with selective catalytic reduction technology start rolling in 2010, truckers refilling their trucks’ urea tanks will need to follow strict guidelines to protect the product’s purity to avoid damaging the aftertreatment system, urea experts said.