The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has ended its practice of granting 10-day extensions to trucking companies that file appeals when they receive orders to cease operations following an unsatisfactory safety rating, an agency spokeswoman said.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is again delaying one of the last steps to complete implementation of its chassis maintenance rule that’s meant to make the equipment safer.

WASHINGTON — Reports from states on commercial vehicle accidents are so inconsistent that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration probably will rely on carriers to challenge findings of who was at fault, a top agency official told the National Transportation Safety Board last week.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration last week placed four new driver fatigue studies into its hours-of-service docket and said the studies probably would cause the agency to miss a court-imposed July 26 deadline for posting its final hours rule.