Socio-economic studies have estimated losses in the range of 0.26 - 0.62% of India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), attributed to HCRV accidents alone when they merely constitute 5.4% of the total registered vehicles in India. An Antilock Braking System (ABS) algorithm works on the fundamental idea of Wheel Slip Regulation (WSR) by which it varies the braking effort, depending on operating conditions such as the loading condition, and road friction coefficient. It is infeasible to determine the wheel slip ratio from sensor measurements alone due to the inability to obtain accurate values of effective tire radius, and longitudinal velocity from available sensor data. An Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) provides vehicle acceleration that can be used in Active Vehicle Safety Systems (AVSSs). However, the signal output from an IMU is affected by changes in its position in the vehicle and alignment, which may lead to degradation in AVSS performance. This study considers a 6-axis IMU and evaluates its impact on ABS performance by considering the IMU signal obtained with different mounting orientations, and positions on a Heavy Commercial Road Vehicle (HCRV). It then develops a computationally effective transformation that requires only two parameters for compensating the IMU sensor mis-orientation and extracting vehicle acceleration from the IMU signal. Subsequently, a Kalman filter is utilized to estimate the unresolved offset in longitudinal acceleration. The IMU calibration combined with an ABS algorithm was evaluated in a Hardware-in-Loop (HiL) experimental setup using IPG TruckMaker®. Improvements in longitudinal acceleration estimates by 94-98% were achieved with the calibration algorithm, when compared to the unprocessed IMU data. Moreover, the processed longitudinal acceleration estimates significantly enhanced wheel slip estimation performance by over 60% for a majority of the test cases, avoiding critical problems of wheel lock, and zero brake torque before the vehicle reaches its crawling speed. The scope of future work will be the development of a transformation methodology compensating for the dynamic orientation changes, and mounting position restrictions of the IMU. This will be integrated with a wheel slip estimation algorithm, forming the foundation for ABS implementation using WSR methodology. The outcomes of this study are expected to contribute as a critical block in the development of an indigenous ABS solution for HCRVs.