Article Summary
The National Motor Freight Traffic Association discovered a network of "chamelone ELDs" registered with FMCSA that may enable hours-of-service cheating.
- Over 1,000 ELDs are self-certified with FMCSA, raising concerns about regulatory oversight.
- Approximately 75% of registered ELDs are white labeled, meaning they share core technology but are registered under different names.
- FMCSA removed only 80 ELDs in the past year.
- Some white-labeled ELDs have more than 100 identical ELDs under different names on the FMCSA's device registry.
- FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs vowed to end the self-certification model. Canada's system, with pre-registration vetting, has not experienced the same chameleon ELD problem.
New research from the National Motor Freight Traffic Association gets to the heart of a "chameleon ELD" epidemic, and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has taken notice.
NMFTA's Chief Operating Officer Joe Ohr told Overdrive the organization has uncovered a network of hundreds of "white label" devices, or technically similar but differently named ELDs, registered with FMCSA.
The association kicked off the research after hearing from drivers and carriers like those Overdrive has reported on and in the Super Ego "chameleon carrier" network.
[Related: Prime Route Transport, a Super Ego chameleon fleet, accused of ELD cheating with video evidence]
It's something of an open secret that the ELD, broadly intended as a tamper-proof upgrade to paper logs, has been compromised.
How many 'chameleon ELDs' are out there?
Major ELD players like Omnitracs, Samsara, Motive, Geotab and all the other big names are mostly U.S.-based and used by the biggest carriers in trucking, likewise huge numbers of small fleets and owner-operators. Ohr said those big players are on the level.
But "what was shocking," said Ohr, "was how many ELDs were self-certified on the FMCSA website, over 1,000."
Ohr got to wondering where all these ELDs were coming from.
"We started looking at things like country of manufacture, how many of these had parts in China?" said Ohr. "That got triggered by the whole cranes incident."
The cranes incident referenced by Ohr refers to a Congressional investigation that found cranes used in seaports had Chinese components that could potentially act as a "Trojan horse capable of helping" China "exploit and manipulate U.S. maritime equipment and technology."
Owner-ops have long raised similar concerns about who exactly owns ELD data and what big tech firms do with it, and when NMFTA took that thinking seriously, it did appear to expose malign foreign influence.
NMFTA used AI to look at all the documentation submitted to FMCSA on ELDs and found that some 75% of registered ELDs were "white labeled," or products with the same core technology but registered as different brands.
"There are some valid reasons for white labeling," said Ohr. For example, if a company creates a great ELD but isn't interested in marketing it, another more sales-savvy firm might license the tech to market and sell its own version.
However, that's likely not what's going on with a lot of ELDs.
"There were companies out there with over 100 different ELDs within the FMCSA website that were the exact same," said Ohr. Likely "there's not a valid reason" to list the same ELD 100 times.
Think about what happened with MC numbers. They served a valid purpose for decades, but with the freight fraud boom starting in the pandemic, fraudsters registered and/or bought MCs on the private market by the hundreds. These became known as "chameleon carriers," entities who would simply shift from one MC to the next if a safety record, scores or rating went down and they were flagged as "do not use" with brokers or shut down by FMCSA.
Chameleon ELDs share similar characteristics. FMCSA takes months of investigation and effort to remove a single ELD from its device registry, yet white labeling means there's likely another at the ready for use by those who would abuse the hours rules and their drivers.
[Related: How much is your MC worth? Maybe as much as $30,000]
ELDs now abused just as readily as paper logs were
With hundreds of white-labeled ELDs registered and only 80 total removed by FMCSA in the last year, ELD cheats remain leaps and bounds ahead of the game.
Take for example the ELD used by Hope Trans LLC during the deadly Terrell, Texas, crash on I-20.
[Related: Cuban driver who killed 5 in Texas sentenced to 20 years, deportation]
A National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the crash found the driver was using an ELD from Ontime Logs Inc.
The "driver had been on duty for approximately 47.81 hours," according to NTSB. FMCSA later revoked that ELD but Ontime Logs Inc. has another registered ELD in the system.
Extra Mile International, a 200-some-truck fleet accused in court documents of widespread ELD cheating, shifted ELDs several times as the devices kept getting revoked.
In a deposition, Extra Mile's managing partner said the fleet's ELDs were managed by a Serbian company which he also owned, but had no knowledge about.
NMFTA's Ohr and inspectors Overdrive has interviewed about ELD cheating say there's evidence that some operators will run two ELDs, like the old extra-logbook-under-the-seat approach operators with paper logs used to take.
"Instead of two physical books, you’ve got two digital books," said Ohr.
Though around 75% of ELDs listed today are "white label," Ohr said that doesn't mean 75% of carriers or drivers cheat on their logs.
Ohr brought NMFTA's findings to FMCSA and they're "still trying to figure out" by reviewing inspectiondata run through the federal ERODS analysis just what percent of carriers really use the devices.
"Our goal is not to just raise red flags and not do anything," said Ohr, who characterized FMCSA as "extremely responsive" to meeting with them. FMCSA has "done a very good job of starting to revoke ELDs" and also blocking new ELDs from entering the market.
But more needs to be done, and fast, he said. "If you’ve got one company that’s white-labeled 50 ELDs," and one is shown to allow cheating, "you need to revoke all 50," said Ohr.
Crackdown incoming?
Ultimately, FMCSA has long processes and rules it needs to follow to revoke ELDs, removing them from its registry.
FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs vowed to end the self-certification model that allowed so many ELDs on the registry in the first place, and Ohr commended that idea. He pointed out that in Canada, where they do check ELD specifics before approving a device and don't just take the maker's word for it, there isn't the same "chameleon ELD" problem.
With government delay, should the industry step up and blacklist the white labels?
Ohr said NMFTA is working on releasing research into its list of suspicious ELDs, and hopes to take action soon.
NMFTA issues Standard Carrier Alpha Codes, or SCAC codes used for BOLs and other documentation, and Ohr said it's stepping up vetting for that process.
"So now when someone gets a SCAC code if they’re not Class 8, they have to go through a verification process with NMFTA," he said. "We're looking at expanding that for Class 8 and then offering" that data on vetted carriers to brokers.
It's early stages yet, but the vetting around SCAC codes is where "we're going to tie it together with this research on the white label ELDs," said Ohr. Stay tuned for more information on NMFTA's research.
Meantime, contact [email protected] if you have information on ELD cheating, the fleets that do it, or the brokers who look for it.
