During Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s Brake Safety Week between Aug. 21 and Aug. 27, North American inspectors conducted 38,117 inspections of commercial motor vehicles and 4,664 (13%) were placed out of service for brake-related violations.

That also means that nearly 87% of the commercial motor vehicles inspected throughout North America during the voluntary brake-safety inspection and enforcement initiative did not have brake-related critical vehicle inspection item violations.

Brake Safety Week 2022 Results

• Inspectors identified and documented 6,305 brake hose/tube chafing violations, which are a common brake-related violation and was the focus area for this year’s Brake Safety Week. Inspectors reported brake hose chafing violations in four different categories, with varying levels of chafing severity, including two which were out-of-service violations.
• Eleven jurisdictions with performance-based brake testers assessed the braking performance of 392 commercial motor vehicles during Brake Safety Week.
• 29 commercial motor vehicles failed their PBBT test – a 7% out-of-service rate. PBBTs, based on mechanical or electronic decelerometers, assess the overall vehicle braking capability through a stopping performance test in which deceleration and/or stopping distance is obtained, independent of brake type or application method.

During Brake Safety Week, inspectors primarily conducted the North American Standard Level I or Level V Inspection. Both inspection levels include thorough examination of brake systems and components. Inspectors will look for missing, non-functioning, loose, cracked or broken parts, such as spider castings, return springs, brake drums or rotors, brake shoes, linings or pads and slack adjusters. They also inspect for contaminated linings or pads, non-manufactured holes in spring brake housings, S-cam flip-over, and audible air leaks. They check for mismatched brake chambers on an axle, security of air reservoirs, condition of hoses and lines, air pressure in the system, the breakaway device, tractor protection system, pushrod travel and brake-system warning devices.

Vehicles that did not have any vehicle and driver out-of-service violations during a Level I or Level V Inspection may have received a CVSA decal, which is a visual indicator (valid for three months) to inspectors that the vehicle was recently inspected and had no critical vehicle inspection item violations.

Brake Safety Week is part of CVSA’s Operation Airbrake program, in partnership with the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, and Mexico’s Ministry of Communications and Transportation. Operation Airbrake is a program dedicated to improving commercial motor vehicle brake safety throughout North America.