How To Prepare For Brake Safety Inspections

It’s Brake Safety Week! August 21 through the 27th was deemed Brake Safety Week by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance. During this week, CVSA will hold inspections on commercial vehicles across North America.

Brake Safety Week is an initiative by CVSA’s Operation Airbrake Initiative, which is an outreach and enforcement campaign that hopes to reduce highway crashes caused by faulty brakes.

A team at Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems has put together a list of things you can do to prepare for these inspections.

“During last year’s CVSA Brake Safety Week, 12% of the 35,764 vehicles inspected were placed out of service for brake-related issues,” said Fred Andersky, Bendix director – demos, sales, and service training. 

What To Expect

Brake Safety Week roadside inspectors conduct North American Standard Inspections, which cover a range of driver qualifications, documentation, and vehicle equipment conditions. They’ll be checking for:

• Missing, non-functioning, loose, contaminated, or cracked parts
• Holes caused by rust and through rubbing or friction
• Broken springs in the spring brake housing section of the parking brake
• Air leaks around brake components and lines
• Air pressure in the target range of 90-100 psi
• Slack adjusters not at the same length
• Mismatched air chamber sizes across axles
• Warning device functionality (such as antilock braking system indicator lights)

Inspectors will also look for brake hose and tubing chafing violations—the focus of this year’s Brake Safety Week.

How to prepare

Every day:

• Check for damaged or loose-hanging air chambers, pushrods, or slack adjusters.
• Make sure slack adjusters on each axle are extended out to the same angle. Different angles can indicate an out-of-adjustment brake or a broken spring brake power spring.
• Examine tubing and hose condition, positioning, and connections.

Every week:

• Perform a 90- to 100-psi brake application with the wheels chocked and the parking brakes released, and listen for leaks.
• Check air disc brake rotors for cracks.
• Inspect drum brake linings for wear and cracks.

Every month

• Check for moisture in the air system to prevent contamination that leads to component deterioration and system leaks

Conclusion

Don’t get caught with your pants around your ankles, use these tips to make sure you are able to pass these inspections with ease.

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