CVSA Inspectors Pass 88% of Vehicles on Brake Safety Day
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Inspectors in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. conducted 4,898 commercial motor vehicle inspections in a special unannounced one-day brake safety event April 30, putting 570 vehicles out of service for critical violations.
However, more than 88% of those vehicles inspected passed without violations, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance said in a statement.
Each year, CVSA law enforcement jurisdictions are invited to participate in a one-day, unannounced brake-safety inspection and regulatory-compliance enforcement event. On that day, CVSA-certified commercial motor vehicle inspectors conduct their routine roadside inspections with a focus on brake systems and components, and afterward provide brake-related inspection and violation data to the inspectors group.
This year’s event resulted in 4,328 motor vehicles passing the inspections with no brake-related out-of-service violations. However, 570 vehicles were caught traveling on roadways with critical violations. Those vehicles were immediately restricted from further travel until the violations could be addressed.
We released our unannounced #BrakeSafetyDay results yesterday. Inspectors identified 570 (11.6%) commercial motor vehicles with brake-related critical inspection item vehicle violations. View the full results: https://t.co/BScQhugLzg pic.twitter.com/u7HBlig2NZ — CVSA (@CVSA) June 11, 2024
CVSA’s unannounced Brake Safety Day is part of Operation Airbrake, a CVSA program aimed at improving commercial motor vehicle brake safety throughout North America. CVSA’s Brake Safety Week, another Operation Airbrake campaign, is scheduled for Aug. 25-31.
Inspectors identified 330 commercial motor vehicles with 20% brake violations, meaning 20% or more of the vehicle’s (or combination of vehicles) service brakes had an out-of-service condition resulting in a defective brake. That was the top Brake Safety Day violation, accounting for 57.9% of all brake-related out-of-service violations.
Inspectors found other brake violations on 256 (44.9%) of the commercial motor vehicles inspected. Examples of other brake violations include worn brake lines/hoses, broken brake drums, inoperative tractor protection system, inoperative low-air warning device, air leaks and hydraulic fluid leaks.
Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance
A total of 73 commercial motor vehicles had steering-related brake violations — 12.8% of all brake-related out-of-service violations.
Inspections this year included an emphasis on various brake-related violations, including:
• Inspectors found 108 power units and 66 towed units with lining/pad violations.
• A total of 114 brake lining/pad violations were discovered on power units, and 48 violations on power units for contamination.
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• Seventy-one brake lining/pad violations were identified on towed units. Twenty-three of the violations were for cracks/voids in the linings/pads — the top brake lining/pad violation on towed units.
• Eighty-eight performance-based-brake-tester-inspections were conducted at nine U.S. jurisdictions on Brake Safety Day. Four (4.5%) failed to meet the 43.5% minimum braking efficiency required and were placed out of service.
The goal of Operation Airbrake is to reduce the number of highway crashes caused by faulty braking systems on commercial motor vehicles by conducting roadside inspections and educating drivers, mechanics, owner-operators and others on the importance of proper brake inspection, maintenance and operation.
Out-of-adjustment brakes and brake-system violations combine to represent half of all out-of-service violations issued for commercial motor vehicles on the road. Brake systems that are improperly installed or poorly maintained can reduce the braking capacity and stopping distance of trucks or buses.
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