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U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

The Impact of Truck and Bus Maintenance on Safety

Goal

This project will analyze the impact of vehicle maintenance on safety issues and recommend whether new or revised OOS criteria are needed.

Summary

The proposed study will further analyze the impact of vehicle maintenance issues on safety, to include not only violations that are serious enough to be listed as out-of-service (OOS) criteria, but also other vehicle maintenance issues which have been found to cause or contribute to crashes. This proposed study will consider whether new or revised OOS criteria are needed. New or revised OOS criteria may include combinations of vehicle maintenance issues. 

Phase I of this project was completed in 2020, which included a data focused approach to a) assess the impact of specific vehicle maintenance violations on crashes to inform OOS criteria and evaluate the effectiveness of current regulations on preventative maintenance intervals, inspection by trained/equipped mechanics, and inspection facilities. 

Phase II of this project is a Fleet Focused approach to a) develop an operational definition of “systematic maintenance”; and b) establish minimum standards for inspection intervals, mechanic qualifications and training, and certification of maintenance facilities.

Impacts

Survey results are critical to understanding the maintenance data and establishing minimum maintenance standards.