393.53(b) Violations

Currently, three separate conditions are documented as the same violation description under 393.53(b). Additionally, the current violation description incorrectly describes many of the 393.53(b) violations issued. These circumstances make it difficult for the operator to determine which condition needs to be fixed.

Please note that this issue applies only to vehicles subject to 393.53(b)—i.e., vehicles manufactured on or after October 20, 1994, in the U.S.A. or on or after May 31, 1996 in Canada. When a carrier receives 393.53(b) violation, it can be very difficult to determine which of these three conditions constituted the violation. It is therefore difficult to take corrective action to address the underlying problems. Furthermore, the violation description provided in the inspection data provides incorrect information for conditions 2 and 3. Here are the three conditions: (1) If brakes are inspected and found fully equipped with automatic brake adjusters but have a pushrod stroke violation(s) per 393.47(e), then a 393.53(b) violation is automatically included (after confirmation by the inspector of year of manufacture). (2) Alternatively, if brakes are inspected and found not to be fully equipped with automatic brake adjusters and a pushrod stroke violation(s) per 393.47(e) is found, then a 393.53(b) violation is automatically included. The current violation description does not correctly describe this condition. (3) Finally, if brakes are inspected and no 393.47(e) stroke violations are found but the vehicle is not found to be fully equipped with automatic brake adjusters, then a 393.53(b) violation is issued. The violation description currently used for all three 393.53(b) conditions states that: “CMV manufactured after 10/19/94 has an automatic air brake adjustment system that fails to compensate for wear.” If the subject vehicle has any manual brake adjusters—a frequent problem—then it does not have an automatic air brake adjustment system and the description is incorrect.

We request that distinct violation codes (perhaps using suffixes as is done with other violations) and descriptions be incorporated into inspection data systems for the violations of 393.53(b), as follows: 1. “CMV manufactured after 10/19/94 has an automatic airbrake adjustment system that fails to compensate for wear.” This description would apply to condition (1) above. 2. “CMV manufactured after 10/19/94 equipped with manual brake adjusters.” This description would apply to conditions (2) and (3) above.