In April, an unannounced inspection initiative took place as part of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s Brake Safety Day. This initiative aimed to inspect commercial motor vehicles across Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. A total of 6,829 vehicles were inspected on April 19. During the inspections, it was found that 11.3% of the vehicles had critical brake-related issues, rendering them unsafe for the road.

As a result, 773 of these commercial motor vehicles were deemed unfit for travel until the brake violations were corrected. The inspections were carried out by certified inspectors who conducted their usual vehicle and driver inspections, focusing on brake systems. The data collected from these inspections provided a one-day snapshot of the overall state of brake systems on trucks during the enforcement campaign.

The top three brake-related out-of-service conditions were:

  • 20% Brakes Violations – 479. A vehicle or combination of vehicles is declared out of service when 20% or more of its service brakes have an out-of-service condition resulting in a defective brake, such as a brake out of adjustment, an audible air leak at the chamber, defective linings/pads, a missing brake where brakes are required, etc.
  • Other Brake Violations – 368. Examples of other out-of-service brake violations are worn brake lines, broken brake drums, inoperative tractor protection system, inoperative low air warning device, air leaks, hydraulic fluid leaks, etc.
  • Steering Brake Violations – 81. Examples of automatic standalone out-of-service steering axle brake violations are inoperative brakes, mismatched brake chambers, mismatched slack adjuster length, defective linings, etc.

During this year’s Brake Safety Day, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) placed emphasis on gathering data related to brake lining and pad violations. These violations can lead to penalties and impact the safety rating of motor carriers.

Out of the 6,829 commercial motor vehicles that underwent inspection, a total of 108 power units and 87 towed units were found to have lining/pad violations. This adds up to a combined total of 195 violations related to brake lining and pads.

Furthermore, eight jurisdictions belonging to the CVSA utilized performance-based brake testers (PBBTs) to assess the braking performance of vehicles. These participating jurisdictions carried out 92 inspections using PBBTs, and as a result, four vehicles (4.35%) failed the test. The failure indicated inadequate overall vehicle braking efficiency, leading to those four commercial motor vehicles being taken out of service until the issue was resolved.