A brake system including a brake pad shaped and located to apply pressure to a brake rotor and an actuator shaped and located to apply pressure to the brake pad to cause the brake pad to apply pressure to the rotor. The system further includes a sensor material which varies in resistance when the actuator applies pressure to the brake pad, wherein the sensor material include an electrically insulating material with electrically conductive particles distributed therein. The system further includes a controller operatively coupled to the sensor material to detect a change in resistance of the sensor material.