CVSA's 2023 changes to OOS criteria are in effect

Nine changes made to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) North American Standard Out-of-Service (OOS) Criteria for 2023 are now in effect. OOS criteria are updated annually and become effective April 1 each year.

Here are the changes for 2023:

1. A section of the paragraph in Part I, Item 4: Driver medical/physical requirements – b. Medical certificate (4) was removed to provide more clarity.
2. Part I, Item 7: Drugs and other substances – b. Shall Not be Under the Influence was amended to add language for use within the previous 24 hours.
3. Part I, Item 9. U.S./Item 10. Canada/Item 11. Mexico: Driver’s record-of-duty status was amended to clarify the out-of-service condition for a false record of duty status.
4. Part I, Item 9: Driver’s record-of-duty status–U.S.–Footnote 10 was amended to clarify that a driver is not out of service for not being able to print or sign their record-of-duty status.
5. The severity of rust required on a rotor to be included in the 20% brake criterion was clarified in Part II, Item 1: Brake systems–a. defective brakes, (6) air disc brakes (d), (7) hydraulic and electric brakes (e) and b. front steering axle(s) brakes, (3) air disc brakes (e), (4) hydraulic brakes (e).
6. Part II, Item 2: Cargo securement–e. (3) and f. was amended to clarify that there is nothing in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations or National Safety Code Standard 10 dictating the placement of tiedowns on cargo.
7. “To be on” was added to the title of Part II, Item 9: Lighting devices (headlamps, tail lamps, stop lamps, turn signals and lamp/flags on projecting loads) when lights are required.
8. Clarifying language for spring hangers and equalizers was added to Part II, Item 11: Suspension–d. Suspension connecting rod and tracking component assembly.
9. A diagram was added to Part II, Item 11: Suspension–d. Suspension connecting rod and tracking component assembly for further clarification of parts and how they apply to the out-of-service criteria.

These changes have been incorporated into North American Standard Inspection Program training materials, along with updated inspection bulletins, inspection procedures, operational policies, and training videos.

The agency also pointed out an error in Part I, Section 9 on U.S. driver’s record-of-duty-status on page 8 of the spiral-bound handbook. The affected section is on property-carrying vehicles and on qualifying rest breaks. To correct this misprint, CVSA said all copies of the handbook will be shipped with a letter outlining the error along with a sticker with corrected language that may be placed over the error. The handbook is the only version affected; all other versions of the out-of-service criteria, including the app, are correct, CVSA stated.