Inspection, Repair and Maintenance

It is generally recognized that there is a relationship between inspection, repair, and maintenance practices for CMVs and defect-related CMV accidents. CMVs are frequently operated in excess of 100,000 miles annually. Safety professionals, enforcement officials and personnel, and employees in the trucking and motorcoach industries recognize that documenting CMV inspection, repair, and maintenance is an important activity to the furtherance of highway safety. These records are also critically important in determining if a motor carrier's maintenance practices were causal factors in an accident. The purpose of the collection is to enable FMCSA and State enforcement personnel to evaluate a motor carrier's CMV maintenance program by the documentation of CMV inspection, repair, and maintenance. FMCSA will also be able to check the current level of regulatory compliance of the carrier at any point in its maintenance schedule or program. The information collection ensures that motor carriers have adequate records to document the inspection, repair, and maintenance of their CMVs, and to ensure that adequate measures are taken to keep their CMVs in safe and proper operating condition at all times. Compliance with the inspection, repair, and maintenance regulations helps to reduce the likelihood of accidents attributable, in whole or in part, to the mechanical condition of the CMV. FMCSA does not require inspection, repair and maintenance information to be submitted to the agency. The information collection is mandatory. Motor carriers and IEPs are required to maintain the equipment information at their facilities and to make the information available if requested during a compliance review or investigation. This information collection involves only one reporting requirement that has no confidentiality implications. All other components of this information collection are recordkeeping requirements. The recordkeeping requirements are minimal and there are no prescribed forms for carriers to use to meet these requirements. For some required records, motor carriers may either maintain them or cause a third party to do so. The regulations also permit the motor carrier to establish its own systematic CMV maintenance program on either a mileage or time basis. The information is used by the FMCSA and State officials during compliance and enforcement activities to verify that a motor carrier (and, for IME, an IEP) has established an inspection, repair, and maintenance program for its equipment which meets the standards in part 396. During these activities, FMCSA and State officials and representatives examine the information to determine whether the motor carrier systematically inspects, repairs, and maintains all CMVs subject to its control. The systematic program must include routine inspections and maintenance. The program must also include reports of vehicle defects by drivers, thorough inspections at least once per year by qualified individuals, and performance of work on brakes by qualified employees. FMCSA published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on November 12, 2019, and the Final Rule (85 FR 50787) on August 18, 2020, that propose to rescind the requirement that drivers of passenger-carrying commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) operating in interstate commerce submit, and motor carriers retain, driver-vehicle inspection reports (DVIRs) when the driver has neither found nor been made aware of any vehicle defects or deficiencies (no-defect DVIRs). The Agency estimates that passenger-carrying CMV drivers spend approximately 2.4 million hours each year completing no-defect DVIRs, and that the proposed rule and Final rule would result in a cost savings of $74 million per year. This proposed rule and Final rule would remove an information collection burden without adversely impacting safety.

The latest form for Inspection, Repair and Maintenance expires 2023-12-31 and can be found here.

Routine Inspection, Repair, and Maintenance Records for CMVs

Federal Enterprise Architecture: Transportation - Ground Transportation