Personal Injury Newsletter

Brake Safety and CMV Safety - A Necessary Combination

Because Commercial Motor Vehicles (CMVs) are generally larger and thus potentially more dangerous than other vehicles, CMV brake safety is imperative. In 2003, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a new rule allowing for performance-based brake testing for CMVs, as opposed to the traditional method of visual inspection.

There are three types of vehicles that are considered CMVs: (1) A truck with a gross vehicle weight rating over 10,000 lbs; (2) a vehicle used to transport hazardous materials carrying a required quantity; and (3) a bus designed to transport more than fifteen people.

FMCSA Rule Permits Performance Brake-Testing
In the United States, thousands of fatalities annually are caused by CMV accidents. A variety of reasons have caused such accidents, such as brake failure.

In an attempt to increase safety, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMSCA) has created a pass/fail criteria for use with performance-based brake testers (PBBTs). PBBTs are a method of measuring the braking performance of CMVs in order to ensure compliance of braking capabilities with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations.

There are two methods by which PBBT measures the condition of brakes:

1. Measuring brake forces at each wheel
2. Measuring overall brake performance in controlled testing

The Goals for Performance Brake-Testing
Implementation of the performance based brake-testing rule is the pinnacle of research that began in the 1990s. PBBTs allow for more frequent and thorough testing of CMVs. The FMCSA hopes that the ability of the PBBT testing to systematically process more vehicles will prevent and lower the number of CMV-related accidents occurring each year. In 2008, the method was approved by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) for roadside enforcement, where trucks which fail testing may be immediately placed out-of-service until they are repaired.

© 2026 NextClient.com, Inc. All rights reserved.

• Damages Recoverable for Injuries Affecting Quality of Life
  Relatively recently, courts have begun awarding damages in certain cases for “loss of enjoyment of life,” also called “hedonic damages,” named for the ancient Greek school of philosophy called “Hedonists” who believed that... Read more.
• Party and Non-Party Depositions in Civil Lawsuits
  Once a lawsuit is filed to recover damages for a personal injury, breach of contract, or other cause of action, the case will usually proceed through several phases. The first phase of a lawsuit usually entails the preparation and... Read more.
• Product Defect and the Circumstantial Evidence Standard
  Individuals who have been injured by a defective product will have a valid legal claim against the manufacturer or distributor of the product if they can prove that the product was defective and that the product defect caused their... Read more.
• An Overview of Spectator Injuries
  The liability of property owners for injuries that occur to persons on their property is largely a creation of state law and court decisions. For this reason, the nature of a property owner’s duties to individuals on the owner’s... Read more.

• Amazon Sued by FTC, 22 States Over Alleged $20 Billion Ad Overcharges
• D4vd Pleads Not Guilty, Switches to Public Defender in Celeste Rivas Murder Case
• George Santos Gets Kalshi’s First Lifetime Ban Over State of the Union Bets
• Meta Wins Dismissal of Instagram Shopping Monopoly Lawsuit
• Supreme Court Allows Trump to Keep Building $400M White House Ballroom in 5-4 Ruling