The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) says it expects more than 30,000 brake inspections to take place
during Brake Safety Week: Sep. 7-13, 2014, which would be a 50 percent increase from last year’s roughly 20,000 inspections.
For additional details on Brake Safety Week, click here: www.cvsa.org/programs/brake_safety_week_2014.php
The CVSA provides the following Operation Airbrake Inspection Procedure:
Inspection Items
· Driver License
· Registration
· Low Air Warning Device
· Pushrod Travel (Adjustment)
· Brake Linings/Drums
· Air Loss Rate (If leak detected)
· Tractor Protection System
Operation Air Brake Inspection Procedure
STEP 1: Choose the Inspection Site
STEP 2: Safety Considerations
STEP 3: Check Air Brake Mechanical Components
STEP 4: Check Steering Axle Air Brake Mechanical Components
STEP 5: Check Brake Adjustment
STEP 6: Build the Air Pressure to 90 – 100 PSI
STEP 7: Check the Air Brake ABS System (If Applicable)
STEP 8: Test Air Loss Rate
STEP 9: Test Low Air Pressure Warning Device
STEP 10: Check the Tractor Protection System
STEP 11: Finalize paperwork, and provide the results to the driver (i.e. out-of-service, etc.)
NOTE: All inspections are to be identified as a Level IV inspection.
NOTE: The statistics will require a count of automatic slack adjuster vs. manual slack adjuster brakes and their respective adjustment (or out of adjustment). Jurisdictions will need to capture this information on their CVSA inspection sheets or on some other form in order to compile the statistics. If the jurisdiction doesn’t normally capture this information on their inspection sheet, officers will need to know ahead of time that they are required to record this somewhere on the sheet.
| 393.40 – 393.55 | Subpart C – Brakes | DOT Interpretations? |
| 393.40 | Required brake systems. | Yes |
| 393.41 | Parking brake system. | Yes |
| 393.42 | Brakes required on all wheels. | Yes |
| 393.43 | Breakaway and emergency braking. | Yes |
| 393.44 | Front brake lines, protection. | Yes |
| 393.45 | Brake tubing and hoses; hose assemblies and end fittings. | |
| 393.46 | [Reserved] | |
| 393.47 | Brake actuators, slack adjusters, linings/pads and drums/rotors. | |
| 393.48 | Brakes to be operative. | Yes |
| 393.49 | Control valves for brakes. | |
| 393.50 | Reservoirs required. | |
| 393.51 | Warning signals, air pressure and vacuum gauges. | Yes |
| 393.52 | Brake performance. | Yes |
| 393.53 | Automatic brake adjusters and brake adjustment indicators. | |
| 393.55 | Antilock brake systems. | |
| Appendix G | Appendix G to Subchapter B—Minimum periodic inspection standards |
NOTE: When you access these regulations you are leaving CVSA’s website and visiting the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration website to see the regulations.