What safety feature helps to manage the braking of heavy vehicles?

The feature that assists in managing the braking of heavy vehicles is retarders. Retarders are additional braking systems that help slow down a vehicle, particularly in scenarios such as downhill driving where maintaining control is crucial. They work alongside conventional braking systems, providing extra braking force without causing excessive wear to the primary brake components.

Retarders can take various forms, such as engine retarders, which use the engine's compression or exhaust to create a braking effect, and hydraulic or electric retarders that rely on other mechanical means to produce resistance. This helps improve safety by reducing the likelihood of brake fade and ensuring that the driver retains better control over the vehicle's speed.

The other options, while important for vehicle operation, do not specifically enhance the ability to manage braking in heavy vehicles the way retarders do. For instance, power steering aids in maneuverability and control but does not impact braking performance. The anti-lock braking system (ABS) prevents wheel lock-up during hard braking, which enhances control but does not provide the supplementary braking power that retarders offer. Adaptive cruise control primarily assists with speed regulation under certain conditions but does not focus on the extra braking functionalities that retarders provide.