More than 4,000 commercial vehicles inspected during surprise CVSA brake blitz

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) released results from this year’s unannounced Brake Safety Day inspection effort.

Each year, the CVSA conducts a surprise single-day brake inspection effort to collect brake-related data and ensure regulatory compliance.

This year, Brake Safety Day took place on April 14 in forty-seven jurisdictions throughout the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.

As part of the Brake Safety Day effort, a total of 4,021 commercial vehicle inspections were conducted. Of those inspected vehicles, 574 were ordered out-of-service for critical brake violations.

Most of the inspected commercial vehicles (85.7%) did not have any brake out-of service violations.

In the U.S., the brake out-of-service rate for Brake Safety Day was 13.9%.

The CVSA said that 313 commercial vehicles met 20% defective brakes out of-service criterion, meaning that  20% or more of the vehicle’s (or combination of vehicles’) brakes have a condition that impairs braking ability to a degree that the brake is considered defective.

The area of emphasis for Brake Safety Day 2026 was on drums and rotors. A total of 43 drum and rotor violations were identified, 21 of which were out-of-service violations. 

More than 90% of the inspections conducted for Brake Safety Day were North American Standard Level I Inspections.

Brake Safety Day is conducted as part of the larger CVSA Operation Airbrake program, which seeks to improve brake safety throughout North America.

CVSA Brake Safety Week will take place throughout North America August 23 — 29, 2026.