Brake Failure & Maintenance Violations
— how it affects your claim.

The governing regulations are 49 CFR Part 393.40-393.52 (brakes); 49 CFR Part 396 (vehicle inspection). FMCSA regulations require trucking companies to inspect, repair, and maintain brakes on all commercial vehicles. Drivers must complete pre-trip inspections identifying brake defects. Failure to repair known brake issues is a serious FMCSA violation.

These rules exist because federal regulators and crash-data researchers have repeatedly linked this category of violation to serious and fatal commercial-vehicle crashes. Compliance is not optional — it is a baseline duty owed to every other road user.

Trucking evidence has a short shelf life. ELD data can be overwritten within days, dashcam footage cycles, and physical evidence at the scene is cleared quickly. Send a written preservation-of-evidence letter to the carrier the moment you can.

• 01Pre-trip inspection reports
• 02maintenance logs
• 03repair orders
• 04DOT roadside inspection records (publicly available via FMCSA SAFER system)

The moment your attorney is engaged, they will send spoliation letters to the trucking company, its insurer, and any relevant third parties demanding preservation of all evidence related to the accident. This is critical because trucking evidence has a short shelf life:

• 01ELD data can be overwritten within 7 to 30 days depending on the device
• 02Dashcam footage is typically retained for only 30 to 72 hours before being overwritten
• 03Driver cell phone records are held by carriers for varying periods
• 04Truck maintenance records may be deliberately disposed of if not immediately preserved

Courts take spoliation seriously — if a trucking company destroys evidence after receiving a preservation demand, this can result in an adverse inference instruction to the jury, telling them to assume the destroyed evidence was unfavourable to the defendant.