• Generally, if a vehicle has an Appendix A defect that would cause it to fail a periodic inspection, it may be placed out of service during a roadside inspection.
• A vehicle with an Appendix A defect that would lead to not passing a periodic inspection may still be allowed to continue under OOSC and repaired later in the day or before its next trip, rather than placing it out of service.

The areas listed in Appendix A are also the basis for the North American Out-of-Service Criteria (OOSC), published by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) with a few differences. Generally, if the vehicle has a defect that would cause it to not pass a periodic inspection, it may be placed out of service during a roadside inspection conducted under 396.9.

Out-of-service orders

Any vehicle placed out of service must be repaired before it can resume operating on the roadway. This will require having the vehicle repaired at the location of the inspection, or having the vehicle towed to a repair facility. Documentation of the repairs (and towing if the vehicle was towed) will need to be handled and filed correctly to verify that the terms of the out-of-service order were complied with.

Differences between Appendix A and OOSC

Generally, the OOSC follows Appendix A. The distinction between the two is that when there are differences, the OOSC is not as strict as Appendix A. An example would be brakes. One defective brake (bad shoe, drum, or brake out-of-adjustment) would lead to a vehicle not passing a periodic inspection because of the Appendix A requirements. In the OOSC, the vehicle may be allowed to continue if only one brake has a defect. The vehicle is still in violation and the vehicle would not pass a periodic inspection, but the inspector may allow it to continue its trip and be repaired later in the day or before it is operated again after the driver’s workday, rather than placing it out of service.

Relationship between Appendix A and OOSC

It is important to understand the relationship between the regulations, Appendix A, and the OOSC. The regulations in Part 393 and Appendix A provide the condition the vehicle must be always in when it is operating on the roadway. Any defect that is a violation of the regulations in Part 393 or that is listed in Appendix A can be noted as a violation on a roadside inspection. The violation will then be used in the scoring in the Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program. Also, the carrier and/or driver can be warned or cited (fined) for any violation of Part 393.

If the inspector finds a defect that is a violation of Part 393, the next question is, “Does the defect warrant an out-of-service order?” To determine if the defect warrants an out-of-service order, the inspector will compare the defect to the OOSC. If the defect is specifically mentioned in the OOSC, and the condition matches the criteria provided, the vehicle may be placed out of service.

The legal actions taken because of a violation (the warning or citation) and the decision to place the vehicle out of service are not necessarily related. A vehicle found to have defective headlights during daylight hours can be warned or cited for having defective required lights because a non-working headlight is a violation of the regulations. However, it will generally not be placed out of service as it is not a safety-critical issue at the time of the inspection.

To sum up!

The OOSC is strictly intended to get vehicles that are in an unsafe condition repaired before allowing them to continue.