The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) annual Brake Safety Day, which is not publicly announced before it takes place, saw 14.3% of trucks (574 total) inspected during the event placed out-of-service for brakes-related violations.
- This year’s Brake Safety Day took place April 14 in 47 jurisdictions throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
- Of the 4,021 total inspections conducted, 3,447 total resulted in no brakes-related out-of-service violations -- 85.7% of the total number of vehicles inspected.
- Vehicles that did not have any critical vehicle inspection items may have received a CVSA decal.
- New analysis by Overdrive/RigDig drilled down on just where brakes-related enforcement is most hot, and not.
- North Dakota ranked highest for most-intense states, with 30.5% of all 2025 violations issued pertaining to brake systems.
- West Virginia's 4.1% brakes-violation rate sat the bottom of the list.
Brake Safety Day's 14.3% OOS rate fell roughly in line with last year's Brake Safety Week, which saw 15.1% of trucks parked for brakes-related violations over the course of that week. This year's Brake Safety Week will be held Aug. 23-29.
This year during the daylong event in April, inspectors emphasized drums and rotors, identifying 43 related violations -- 21 were OOS violations.CVSA
Inspectors identified 313 commercial motor vehicles that met the 20% defective brakes out of-service criterion, which is when 20% or more of the vehicle’s or combination's brakes have a condition that impairs braking ability to a degree that the brake is considered defective.
Where brakes enforcement's most intense: Toughest states
Compared to other violation categories, brakes enforcement has been on an upward trend nationally since 2023. Measured as a percentage of all violations, brakes accounted for almost one in every five violations issued so far in 2026, according to recent analysis by Overdrive and sister company RigDig, creator of Overdrive's RigDig Truck History Report.
Wide variability among states where brakes enforcement is most intense in the mix is shown in the map below, charting the 48 continental states for full calendar year 2025 violations.
In addition to leader North Dakota at 30.5%, states across regions but with a heavy presence in the Southwest along the Mexico border and West Coast round out this top 10:
- Utah – 28.3%
- New Mexico – 25.2%
- Texas – 25.1%
- Arizona – 20.3%
- Virginia – 20%
- Wyoming – 20%
- California – 19.6%
- Missouri – 18.7%
- Colorado – 18.5%
Keep the rankings in mind through the summer in preps for the Brake Safety Week event in August.
[Related: Roadcheck 2026: Toughest states for HOS violations]
For the one-day event, inspectors also ID'd:
- 121 OOS violations related to brake hoses and/or tubing
- 47 vehicles had steering axle OOS violations
- 40 vehicles failed an air-loss-rate test
- 193 other OOS brake violations, such as inoperative tractor protection system, hydraulic or electric brake violations, inoperative parking/emergency brake, inoperative low-air warning device, etc.
Ten U.S. jurisdictions conducted 349 inspections utilizing a performance-based brake tester (PBBT), which is a machine that assesses the braking performance of a vehicle. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations and CVSA’s North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria require a minimum braking efficiency of 43.5%. Twenty-six (7.45%) vehicles failed to meet the required 43.5% minimum braking efficiency rate and were placed out of service.
[Related: Roadcheck: Inspectors 'behind the curve' on new breed of ELD cheats]
