In this CSA Basics podcast episode, Sam Tucker, CEO of Carrier Risk Solutions, discusses the findings from the FMCSA’s Brake Safety Week, highlighting that brake hose and tube violations rank second among the most common 393.45 violations, with roughly 200,000 annual citations. He explains the two primary categories of violations—air leaks from glad‑hand seals and chafing/kinking of hoses—and their root causes, such as worn seals, loose hose tenders, and improper trailer repairs. Tucker provides practical prevention strategies: replace glad‑hand seals yearly (prefer polyurethane over rubber), monitor for loss of brake pressure, reduced braking power, or hissing noises, keep pigtails off the truck catwalk, ensure hose tenders and springs are in good condition, and verify that clamps, tie‑downs, and routing hardware are correctly reinstalled after any repair. He also recommends routine walk‑around inspections to catch audible leaks and mis‑routed hoses. The episode concludes with contact information for Carrier Risk Solutions and a reminder to visit csabasics.com for additional safety resources.
Welcome to CSA Basics.
CSA Basics.
The podcast where we talk about all things related to safety, compliance, and insurance for the trucking industry. We're here to help you save money, save time, and save lives. Now, here's your host, CEO of Carrier Risk Solutions, Sam Tucker.
All right, so the CBSA just released the results of their Brake Safety Week that was held between August 21st and 27th of this year. If you're not familiar with what Brake Safety Week is, it's kind of like International Road Check. It's a focused enforcement blitz from FMCSA and the partners throughout the country each year. And obviously, as the name implies, they focus on brake safety. So this year's focus was on brake hoses and tubes, which a lot of folks don't understand or don't realize how significant of a problem those are. But essentially, there's about 200,000 brake hose or tube violations across the country each year. So it's kind of a significant problem. It actually is the number 2 violation if you count all the 393.45 violations. There's about 8 or 9 different ones that deal with brake connections, brake hoses and tubes, chafing or kinking, or with leaks somewhere, or if those brake hoses and tubes are adequate. So of those, about 200,000 violations a year are issued for these. So that makes it only second to lighting violations, which we talked about previously, or inoperable required lamp. So if you've heard any of our prior episodes, you'll notice that, or you'll remember that avoiding lighting violations is the number one thing you can do to help pretty much avoid all violations or all roadside inspections. So obviously, if they're not pulling you over for lights or speeding or something like that that's really obvious to law enforcement, they're not gonna be able to check your brakes or anything else. All right, so let's talk a little bit more about these violations and the best way to prevent them. So air leaks and brake hose tube violation and chafing violations are the most common types of violations that we're dealing with here. Air leaking from the glad-hand seals between the truck's airlines and the trailer connection points are the usual place for air leaks in the braking system for a truck and trailer system. So those are the places we wanna take a look look at and focus on most of the time. So as a rule of thumb, the glad-hand seals should be replaced every year, generally on average, or whenever the airlines have been recently changed too. That's a good time to change them. Generally speaking, either the glad-hand seals are made of rubber or polyurethane. The rubber is usually cheaper and more common than the polyurethane counterparts, but they also tend to become more brittle and crack over time, especially in areas where the temperature changes are more dramatic. So it's usually worth a little more to invest the dollars in the poly seals versus the standard rubber seals that come with most on the OEMs. So when you're also looking at the air leak possibilities, the most important signs to pay attention to— there's really 3 really telltale signs. One is loss of brake pressure. So the biggest sign of leak, the most prevalent sign of leak in the glide hands, is the loss of air brake pressure. The second kind of telltale sign is loss of braking power. So if enough pressure is lost in the system, it can result in weaker and squishier brakes. And this will also force you to put more effort into the brake and push the brake pedal to make sure the wheels slow down. And the third is really a loud hiss or noise whenever the parking or service brakes are applied. This indicates there's pressurized air leaking somewhere from the system, and it could be most often the glide handle seal. So that's again what we're talking about. So again, too— All right, so the other type of main violations we're dealing with here are chafing and kinking of the brake hoses and tubes. So those issues tend to come from one of two different culprits usually. The first one's a loose or damaged hose tender or hose spring, and the second is improper trailer repairs. So let's talk about the hose tender. So usually over time, a hose truck or a truck's hose tender or the hose springs tend to wear out. So that's just how it works, especially with a lot of over-the-road travel. When it does, the pigtails are allowed to rub against the truck's catwalk in the back, and this causes the airlines to chafe, which will eventually lead to a violation or decrease in the brake system performance. You want to make sure that those airlines, all your pigtails, are up off of the truck deck. The under the truck or under the trailer, most of the under vehicle type chafing, kinking issues are usually caused as a result of improper repairs. So after completing repair, the maintenance techs have to ensure that they reinstall all the clamps, tie-downs, and hose routing hardware correctly and make sure that the hoses are properly mounted in those. If they don't, there's a really good opportunity for the brake hoses to rub and chafe against the frame rails, the chassis axles, or even the Tires. So lines that span over open spaces under the trailer are even more prone to wear and issues. So that's a more important place to even look then too. Also be sure to do a thorough inspection of all the brake lines after any trailer repair to ensure that all the hoses are routed correctly and that they're secured properly to prevent excess movement. So that's what we're really looking for here. So when you're going through, you have a truck repair completed recently, you're going to want to make sure you do a really, really thorough inspection afterwards to make sure you trace each of those lines through the back of the trailer and make sure that the hoses are properly mounted and secured. Another way is just doing a quick walk-around inspection. That can really help avoid a lot of the common brake hose and tube issues that we find. When you're doing that, just be sure to listen for any audible air leaks, especially around the gladhands, and, and make sure that the truck's catwalk is free and clear and that the hoses are up off the truck's deck. So that about wraps it up for us. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out to us. Our phone number is 855-211-5550, or you can also contact us at info@carrierisksolutions.com. Hope you're doing well, and we'll talk to you soon.
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