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No matter how good a carrier's preventive maintenance (PM) program is, on-the-road vehicle problems and equipment breakdowns are inevitable. Whether it’s a problem discovered by an over-the-road driver during a pretrip or post-trip, a tire blowout, a wheel seal leak, or an electrical system failure, unplanned equipment failures and breakdowns are an unfortunate part of the transportation industry. They are also the most expensive maintenance activity on a per-hour basis at most carriers.
Regulatory citations
- 49 CFR Part 393 — Parts and Accessories Necessary for Safe Operation
- 49 CFR Part 396 — Inspection, Repair, and Maintenance
Key definitions
- Repair: Unexpected maintenance necessary to keep a vehicle operational.
Summary of requirements
The regulation at 396.7 prohibits a carrier from operating a vehicle in a condition that is likely to cause a breakdown or accident. This leads to the need to do repairs on the road.
Road repair. When a problem, failure, or breakdown does occur away from a carrier's facility or terminal, often a road repair service call is required to repair the vehicle or the vehicle must be taken to an “outside” shop. Who gets to make the call to the road repair service or outside shop, and how the road repair service or outside shop is selected, is something that the carrier needs to decide in advance.
Road repair networks. To attempt to keep the cost of such repairs down, and to make such occurrences much more manageable, most transportation companies have a network of road repair companies and outside shops established for on-the-road vehicle problems. The driver is normally required to contact the company about the vehicle problem, and then someone at the company references the network list to locate the best option. The driver is then instructed on who to contact for road repair or where to take the vehicle for repairs.