Brake blitz takes 14.2% of trucks off the road for brake-related issues

by Truck News

GREENBELT, Md. — An unannounced brake check day held by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) in the US and Canada May 6 as part of Operation Airbrake placed 14.2% of  inspected units out of service as a result of brake issues.

That’s down a point from last year’s 15.2% OOS rate.

In Canada, however, only 10.3% of trucks inspected were placed out-of-service, with Ontario recording the lowest rate at 7.3%. The US fared worse, with 15.9% of inspected trucks placed out of service with brake issues.

Thirty-two states and provinces participated in the brake blitz. A total of 6,337 commercial motor vehicles and more than 50,000 individual wheel-ends were inspected. In Canada, 4% of inspected units were placed out of service due to incorrect brake adjustments, while in the US the number was 11.3%.

CVSA found brakes with manual adjusters were 2.5 times more likely to be out of adjustment than those equipped with self-adjusting brake adjusters.

The complete results broken down by region can be found here.


Have your say


This is a moderated forum. Comments will no longer be published unless they are accompanied by a first and last name and a verifiable email address. (Today's Trucking will not publish or share the email address.) Profane language and content deemed to be libelous, racist, or threatening in nature will not be published under any circumstances.

*

  • Gee they did not preannounce the inspection 6 weeks in advance with daily reminders and actually caught a few offenders

  • This is evidence that more training by the companies needs to take place. Companies are more concerned about making money than the safety of the motorists on our roads. It is a shame how few of drivers actually know how to do a thorough CVSA inspection. Who’s fault is this? If a driver does not know how to do one then it is not their fault, but the company needs to check this and correct what is lacking. The older the drivers are may not be the ones that know how to perform one simply because that was never expected years ago like it is today, so companies and drivers need to work together to overcome the lack of knowledge necessary for a CVSA inspection. I have drove for many trucking companies and never did a company have a qualified person to teach a full inspection; that would cost money! It is more than just driving a truck these days! Companies need to take blame for the majority of these issues.

  • Just a thought if every truck and trailer were equipped with brake safe stroke indicators then maybe there would be closer to ( 0 ) out of service trucks. Why is this not a mandatory item on new trucks and trailers.
    I know , must be cost in 2007 I paid 20.00 per wheel for unit and 20.00 per wheel installation. It takes less than 1- minute to check all 4- wheels on my Frieghtliner single axle.
    Must be weight approx. 4-oz per wheel.
    MTO does not recognize them, then why do they use them when inspecting my truck.
    This one piece of advice from my Humber Air brake course instructor has saved me ( let me go out on a lim here) 100’s of hours of inspection time over 8- years 160.00 compared to let’s say 22.00 per hour times 20-30 minutes to mark and check the stroke each time (everyday haha ya right) and this means you have to crawl under the truck rain, snow, mud and all other bad or good weather. Just a question, I am open to any suggestions or comments.
    Mark