CVSA places 2,296 vehicles OOS during 2025 Brake Safety Week
During the Commercial Vehicle Service Alliance’s 2025 Brake Safety Week, inspectors placed 2,296 vehicles out of service due to brake-related issues, a 15.1% OOS rate that is 2.3% higher than last year. This year, the Alliance also conducted fewer inspections than the past two years, with a total of 15,175 inspections during Aug. 24-30, as opposed to 2024’s 16,725 inspections, and 18,875 from 2023.
On a more granular level, 13,700 inspections took place in the U.S., with 14.9% of those resulting in brake-related OOS violations.
Across North America, the most-cited reason vehicles were taken off the road was due to the 20% criterion, where 20% or more of a vehicle or combination of vehicle’s service brakes had an out-of-service condition. Inspectors found 1,199 20% violations, giving this issue a 52.2% OOS rate. After the 20% criterion, the most common violation was Other Brake Violations (16.33%), Brake Hoses/Tubes violations (13.32%), Steering Axle violations (8.67%), and Air Loss Rate (4.35%).
This is a bit of a shake-up from last year, when the 20% criterion was the second-most common OOS violation at a 56.6% rate. The most common violation in 2024 was Stand-Alone brake violations (63.1%), which stood for problems with brake hoses, drums, rotors, tractor protection systems, parking brakes, air tanks, and air loss.
Meanwhile, 2025’s Brake Safety Week focus was on drum and rotor violations. In this case, inspectors found 113 drum and rotor violations and put 39 vehicles OOS. However, there may be more than one violation on some of these vehicles/vehicle combinations that put them at the roadside. For this year’s focus, Air Disc brakes tended to have more violations than S-Cam brakes or Hydraulic brakes, with broken rotors accounting for 30.56% of air disc brake violations, and rusted rotors accounting for almost 70% of violations. The most common problem for S-Cam brakes was broken drums, and the most common issue for Hydraulic brakes was also a rusted rotor.
Finally, 15 states conducted performance-based brake tester inspections in 2025. Twenty-five (4.7%) vehicles failed to reach a braking efficiency rating of 43.5% to be in compliance and were placed OOS, while 503 vehicles passed.
Next year’s Brake Safety Week is scheduled for Aug. 23-29, 2026.
About the Author
Alex Keenan
Alex Keenan is an Associate Editor for Fleet Maintenance magazine. She has written on a variety of topics for the past several years and recently joined the transportation industry, reviewing content covering technician challenges and breaking industry news. She holds a bachelor's degree in English from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado.