Here’s some good news: During the recent unannounced Brake Safety Day, 88% of the vehicles targeted passed inspection. Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance inspectors conducted 4,898 inspections that day, with 4,328 vehicles passing the inspection and only 570 vehicles taken out of service.
Even so, 570 vehicles were still found to have violations severe enough that they had to be taken out of service. But given that this was an unannounced inspection blitz, I think the trucking industry presented itself well. One of the key takeaways from the event is that a high percentage of fleets are doing an outstanding job of keeping the brakes on their trucks in good operating condition. This suggests that they are also keeping other components of their vehicles in good working condition.
It also means that drivers are diligent in completing their pre- and post-trip inspections and that trucks are brought into the shop for regular preventive maintenance inspections and service.
Diving deeper into the reasons trucks received violations, it seems that nearly a quarter had issues with the service brakes. Inspectors noted worn brake lines or hoses, broken brake drums, low air-warning devices that were not operating correctly, air leaks, and hydraulic fluid leaks.
See also: CVSA releases results of 2024 Brake Safety Day
Whether the trucks in your fleet passed the inspection or not, these common violations are things you can remind your drivers and technicians to check when they are inspecting your vehicles. If your trucks received violations or were taken out of service, I suggest you ask drivers to put more emphasis on brake components and to pay extra attention to the condition of the brake when inspecting vehicles. It might be a good idea to conduct a quick refresher on the proper steps to take when inspecting brakes.
We can also use the information gathered from Brake Safety Day to prepare for the announced CVSA Brake Safety Week, scheduled for August 25-31. Brake lining and pad violations are the focus of that effort. During that week in August, inspectors will conduct a Level I, IV, or V inspection and will look for things like missing, non-functioning, loose, or cracked parts. They will also check for contaminated, worn, cracked, and missing linings or pads, and for S-cam flipover, among other things. The CVSA website has a wealth of information about Brake Safety Week along with the components that will be inspected.
If we can have 88% of trucks pass an inspection without warning, we can do much better when we have time to prepare for the announced August safety blitz. It’s not too early to start working on making sure none of your trucks are taken out of service during Brake Safety Week.
