mathematical models for a hydraulic brake actuator and a brake control law for vehicle collision warning/collision avoidance (CW/CA) systems will be presented in this paper. The control law have been designed for optimzied safety and comfort. A solenoid-valve-controlled hydraulic brake actuator system for the CW/CA systems has been investigated, A nonlinear computer model and a linear model of the hydraulic brake actuator system have been developed. Both models were found to represent the actual system with good accuracy. Uncertainties in the brake actuator model have been considered in the design of the control law for the roubustness of the controller. The effects of brake control on CW/CA vehicle response has been investigated via simulations. The simulations were performed using the hydraulic brake system model and a complete nonlinear vehicle model. The results indicate that the proposed brake control law can provide the CW/CA vehicles with an opimized compromise between safety and comfort.