This paper is focused on the frictionally induced thermoelastic instability (TEI) in automotive disk brakes. This instability leads to the formation of localized high temperature contact regions known as hot spots. This article investigates the themoelastic instability in automotive disk brake systems consisting of a finite thickness layer (disk) and two half-planes (pads) using a perturbation method. The antisymmetric mode involves hot spots located alternately on two sides of the disk. As a result the circumferentially periodic hot spots produce rotor surface distortion and Induce low frequency vibration. Also the effects of system parameters on the critical speed for TEI are investigated.