As the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s Brake Safety Week approaches later this month (Aug. 21-27), experts offered insights and tips into one of the more common violations: brake hose chafing, the focus area for this year's weeklong event, during which inspectors will gather data on chafing violations while conducting the vehicle-focused portion of inspections.
Brake-related violations regularly make up the majority of vehicle out-of-service violations, according to the CVSA, and considering the maintenance category broadly, close to a majority of vehicle violations in some states with a brake-heavy focus like North Dakota, Montana, Virginia, California and Texas. Those five states lead the nation for high percentages of brakes violations uncovered, calculated as a percent of all violations issued in the state. That's according to Overdrive's 2022 CSA's Data Trail annual update analyzing inspection and violation trends nationally.
Nationally, brakes violations have been on a downward trend as a share of the total violations, though.
During the upcoming Brake Safety Week enforcement blitz, inspectors will no doubt scrutinize the entire brake system, in addition to other vehicle components. In preparation, you can access prior reports on brake adjustment, adjustment and the 20% out-of-service rule, and other helpful brake-maintenance resources via those links.
But the hoses and tubes that support that overall air brake system have become of such concern for the likelihood of chafing that CVSA reports it as "one of the more common vehicle violations, and one that can affect a motor carrier’s safety rating." CVSA recently published a flyer that focuses on brake hose and tubing tips with advice on chafing prevention leading the way.
