The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is eyeing an even more expansive mandate for electronic onboard recorders than it indicated earlier this year, sources told Transport Topics.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is eyeing a much broader mandate than originally thought as part of its upcoming expanded electronic onboard recorder proposal, according to several officials who spoke with Transport Topics.

If your fleet uses electronic driver logs and plans to buy trucks after June 4, 2012, be sure to tell your company’s chief technology officer ahead of time.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association filed notice that it will challenge a new federal rule requiring fleets with poor hours-of-service records to use electronic onboard recorders to monitor drivers.

American Trucking Associations, along with several key industry groups and manufacturers, asked the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to change its final rule on electronic onboard recorders, saying the technical specifications laid out by the regulation were not achievable.

PRINCETON, N.J. — New federal safety regulations soon will drive a wave of purchases by U.S. trucking companies that have not yet adopted electronic onboard recorders and mobile communication systems that closely monitor driver performance, a technology vendor here said.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration likely will not meet a deadline to issue a more expansive rule requiring fleets to use electronic onboard recorders, according to a new report.

The Canadian Trucking Alliance said the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will “inevitably” move toward broader electronic onboard recorder requirements, if not a universal mandate.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration last week issued a rule that could require as many as 5,700 trucking fleets to use electronic onboard recorders to monitor drivers’ hours by lowering the threshold for violations that trigger the EOBR mandate.

Electronic onboard recorders should be mandatory for all truckers operating in North America, the president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance said.