Ten percent – 88 vehicles – of the 894 commercial motor vehicles inspected in Canada were placed out of service for brake-related violations during Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) Brake Safety Day on April 19.

CVSA inspectors inspected 6,829 commercial motor vehicles throughout Canada, Mexico and the U.S. Inspectors found brake-related critical vehicle inspection items on 11.3% of the vehicles inspected, indicating those vehicles were unfit and unsafe for roadways, according to a news release. Inspectors restricted those 773 commercial motor vehicles from travel until the violations were corrected.

During this one-day unannounced inspection and enforcement campaign, certified commercial motor vehicle inspectors conducted their usual vehicle and driver inspections. They reported brake-related data to CVSA for a one-day snapshot of the state of brake systems on the commercial motor vehicles traveling our roadways every day.

Top three

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

1. 20% brakes violations: 497 – 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.
2. Other brake violations: 368 – 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.
3. Steering brake violations: 81 – Automatic standalone out-of-service steering axle brake violations include inoperative brakes, mismatched brake chambers, mismatched slack adjuster length, defective linings, etc.

In the U.S., inspectors placed 679 (11.5%) of the 5,901 total commercial motor vehicles inspected out of service for brake-related violations. And in Mexico, 34 vehicles were inspected. Six (18%) had brake-related out-of-service violations and were placed out of service.

6,829 vehicles inspected

Of the 6,829 commercial motor vehicles inspected, 108 power unit and 87 towed unit lining/pad violations were identified, for a total of 195 combined lining/pad violations.

In addition, eight of the CVSA member jurisdictions with performance-based brake testers (PBBTs) used those machines on Brake Safety Day to assess the braking performance of commercial motor vehicles. Those participating jurisdictions conducted 92 inspections with PBBTs. There were four failures (4.35%), which meant those four commercial motor vehicles were placed out of service for overall vehicle braking efficiency.

CVSA’s Operation Airbrake Program holds two annual brake safety campaigns each year – this initiative, which is the one-day unannounced brake safety inspection and enforcement initiative, and Brake Safety Week, which is scheduled for Aug. 20-26.