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Automobile disc brakes with spacing or gaps separating the contact surfaces are commonly referred to as ventilated brakes. However, I've never heard the word "ventilated" outside of this context.

Should the word describing these brakes be "ventilated" or "vented"? *(I have seen both used, but I see "ventilated" used significantly more frequently)

Ventilate (Google): cause air to enter and circulate freely in (a room, building, etc.)

Vent (Google): provide with an outlet for air, gas, or liquid

I take these definitions to mean that for something to be "ventilated", it is actively changing or moving airflow. For something to be "vented", it is made or constructed in a way that allows a fluid to escape.

So in referring to the brakes as a mere object - whether slowing down a Formula 1 car or sitting in a box in Autozone - it looks like it is more appropriate to call them vented brakes.

Is one necessarily correct or more appropriate than the other?

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  • You should use "ventilated" because it is idiomatic when discussing brakes. But besides that, the rotation of the wheel produces a fan effect that moves air through the brake disk. So not only is "ventilated" idiomatic, it's "correct".
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Jun 12, 2015 at 17:39
  • In addition to Hot Licks comment, where do brakes have a vent, as an outlet for gas etc. like your google definition mentions? Ok, they got several hole if you count the ones at disc edge where the ventilated air (due to centrifugal force) escapes. I would not count that as a vent.
    – Daniel
    Commented Jun 12, 2015 at 18:08
  • It's not that cut & dried. Google Books has 47 instances of ventilated brakes against 27 vented brakes. Both forms seem justifiable to me, though I'm actually more used to the latter myself. Perhaps there's a US/UK split.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jun 12, 2015 at 19:22
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    You are correct that to ventilate is to provide a flow of air, while to vent is specifically letting something inside get outside, presumably because we don't want it, but I am not sure how you get from that to 'vented disc' being more accurate. In terms of appropriacy, a quick play with Ngram shows 'ventilated disc' being more common and hence appropriate (books.google.com/ngrams/…)
    – Roaring Fish
    Commented Jun 13, 2015 at 12:05
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    If you buy a Ford, you get vented disc brakes. If you buy a Lexus, you get ventilated disc brakes. It says so right on the window stickers. Ford sticker, Lexus sticker
    – Phil Sweet
    Commented Aug 10, 2016 at 23:08

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In this context, "to ventilate" means to cause air to circulate, while "to vent" means to provide with an opening or openings (vents) through which air can pass. So a "ventilated brake" is a brake through which air is forced to circulate while a "vented brake" is one that has been provided with openings through which air can pass. I have also seen the term "ventilated facade", which is a facade attached to a building with a space behind it in which air can circulate by convection. In this case, there are hardly any hits in Google for "vented facade".

The distinction I am trying to make may be clearer in a medical context. When a patient is ventilated, air is forced into his lungs while, if the patient were "vented", he would probably die. :-)

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Oddly, while vented rotors is used more frequently than ventilated rotors:

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it seems that ventilated discs is used more frequently than vented discs:

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and ventilated brakes is used more frequently than vented brakes:

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So ventilated brakes would seem to be the more prevalent term.

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