DOT out-of-service criteria, explained

Out-of-service criteria are the rules an inspector uses to decide whether a truck is too dangerous to keep driving. If a violation meets the criteria, the truck or the driver is placed out of service until the problem is corrected. Knowing them helps you avoid the ones that park a truck.

What out of service means

It is not just a ticket. An out-of-service order means the truck stops until the problem is fixed. That is downtime stacked on top of the violation, and it usually lands at the worst possible time.

The common ones

A large share of out-of-service orders come from a few places: brakes that are out of adjustment past the limit or too many defective brakes on the vehicle, flat or cord-showing tires, broken steering or suspension parts, and certain lighting failures. Brakes alone drive a big piece of the total, which is why we look hard at the brake system on every inspection.

How to stay out of it

Most out-of-service violations come from wear that a regular inspection would have caught. Keep the truck on a maintenance schedule and fix the small things before they cross the line.

When we run your DOT inspection and find something close to the limit, we can repair it in the same stop, so it never becomes an out-of-service order on the road.