Yellow ABS light of trailer stays on

This section prevents you from pleading ignorance of the conditions of the tractor and/or trailers.

Inspection, repair, and maintenance

§ 396.11Driver vehicle inspection report(s). (a) Equipment provided by motor carrier. (1) Report required.Every motor carrier shall require its drivers to report, and every driver shall prepare a report in writing at the completion of each day's work on each vehicle operated, except for intermodal equipment tendered by an intermodal equipment provider. The report shall cover at least the following parts and accessories:

Add to that, this section:

Inspection, repair, and maintenance

§ 396.13Driver inspection.Before driving a motor vehicle, the driver shall:

(a) Be satisfied that the motor vehicle is in safe operating condition;

(b) Review the last driver vehicle inspection report; and

(c) Sign the report, only if defects or deficiencies were noted by the driver who prepared the report, to acknowledge that the driver has reviewed it and that there is a certification that the required repairs have been performed. The signature requirement does not apply to listed defects on a towed unit which is no longer part of the vehicle combination.

Additionally:

(e) Knowledge of and compliance with the regulations.

(1) Every employer shall be knowledgeable of and comply with all regulations contained in this subchapter which are applicable to that motor carrier's operations.

(2) Every driver and employee shall be instructed regarding, and shall comply with, all applicable regulations contained in this subchapter.

(3) All motor vehicle equipment and accessories required by this subchapter shall be maintained in compliance with all applicable performance and design criteria set forth in this subchapter.

Now since most companies prior to CSA started cutting costs by cutting maintenance, they disabled ABS systems rather than fix them. Their mechanics, drivers and trainers no longer know how to properly inspect, detect and repair these things. Which is a shame. It's a technology that is truly useful and invisible in operation...when it operates. The first time you realize it saved you, you'll make sure it works from then on....providing it works.

You can be cited for more than just 393.55(e), because more than likely, they also disabled the light in the truck from the trailer and the tractor. That leaves you being able to be cited with 393.55(d)(1), (2) and/or (3) also, besides the sections listed above.

Bottom line is you must make sure your ride works as it's supposed to. The company can't force you to operate that vehicle with those short comings. The only question is...who will blink first?

Let me just point out that the ABS system can indicate a number of various maintenance problems present other than just "a dirty sensor". Wheel bearings, leaking wheel seals, warped/cracked hardware and other brake and wheel maintenance issues can trigger an ABS signal.

DO NOT IGNORE THEM!!! Get them diagnosed and fixed.

Since 1998 all tractors and trailers operate the same way. Key to ACC, light comes on for 2-3 seconds and goes off. If it doesn't come on, or it stays on, you have a problem and need to fix the problem...not ignore it or pass it on.

 

You're right, the company can't force you to operate the vehicle like that. But they can also send you home for a few weeks while your truck is being repaired. Now who blinks?

 

Evidently you don't know the difference of a matched set. Both non-ABS is not the issue. It's when you have an ABS tractor pulling around a non-ABS trailer.

With that attitude it I see you can't comprehend.

That's why you have more ABS violations than you can count!

 

I didn't say I have more than I can count. I said I have more than I care to remember....2 or maybe 3 I think.

I don't know why you rambled on about how trailers might jackknife on snow and ice in that earlier post. No kidding. So what? I still say ABS is a joke. It is a joke because the systems are not built to withstand the rigors of trucking i.e. snow, ice, salt, de-icing fluid, pot holes and all manner of stuff that is out there in the real world. I still ask how did we manage before ABS? Did we not drive on sbnow and ice?

Instead of being all cryptic with your "matched set" BS, and unjustly attacking my comprehension, how about you reply with some actual information instead of beating around the bush.

I will will be sitting here by the laptop waiting for you to bestow all of your vast ABS knowledge on me.

 

(1) Report required.Every motor carrier shall require its drivers to report, and every driver shall prepare a report in writing at the completion of each day's work on each vehicle operated, except for intermodal equipment tendered by an intermodal equipment provider. The report shall cover at least the following parts and accessories



:I do my VCR on the Qualcomm, is that a violation?

 

Probably. I use Eclipse logging software, and I print the previous day's log and DVIR each morning, sign and file it. No inspector has ever questioned the hard copy, nor have they ever given my logs any more than a passing glance. The hardest look I ever got at my logs was in Ohio. He thumbed through the pages to see if I'd done a 34 in the last 7 days. Once he found it, he tossed the pages back to me.

 

He will, when he loses a good driver who will be looking during that time off (a few weeks), for a company that values his ability to do the job and protect his future employers record as well as his own. Then who blinks?


Courage of conviction takes just that. Courage. It's not easy, I understand. When you put into context that the errant employer cares nothing for you or your life...it puts into perspective what you are really doing, is saving your own life.

Ever notice in all these accidents that when they've used drivers of questionable records they are sure to hang them out to dry and try and put it all on them? Won't the same thing happen to you if you let it?

 

While I won't speak to what you perceive of Condo's statement, but the fact is that the ABS system is built to withstand the rigors of trucking....with all the conditions you mention...but they like other systems of trucking require a certain amount of maintenance...and surprisingly, because of their simple operation and simplicity of design, many of these systems are still functional long after the original parts are obsolete.

I had a tanker that was manufactured just after the requirements on trailers 3/98...the trailer was manufactured in 4/98 and the parts on the trailer was original. To repair the system, that the affiliate's mechanic wasn't doing, I had to take it to a different affiliate to get it repaired. They had to change the entire system, because the parts were so old, they were obsoleted and couldn't simply be replaced with newer parts. However, that may not have been the case if the original mechanic had actually fixed the system instead of disabling it.

As I pointed out in my earlier post, the technology is so durable, when the system started having trouble, they had been so reliable that people didn't know how to fix them because the problems had been so few and far between....and those that were disabled because of lack of knowledge, skill or outright incompetence speaks volumes about those that would rather disable than repair.

Basically your statement that ABS is a joke is only an opinion, and that you question the reliability of the system without substantiation and only anecdotal statements doesn't even matter, since unless you're operating a pre-1998 tractor/trailer your opinion is moot. As a driver, driving a vehicle with the specifications that require ABS, the only proper course of action is to get it fixed.

As for the what we did before ABS, well there were experienced and patient drivers that knew you don't brake hard, and you keep your speed down so you don't have to. However, since we're not all created equally, and like the Internet, any idiot with a computer can get on without knowing how to program, the system was built to compensate for the masses of the less trained and qualified.

ABS was designed to help overcome the natural human response to an emergency driving situation, and that was to hard brake. We as drivers, even with training will, without thinking, try to stand on a brake pedal in an emergency response. ABS was designed to help us survive in spite of our natural response and has done so remarkably well considering the millions of cars and trucks that it has been installed in.

So, in contrast to your point of view, ABS is not a joke...and if it is present on your vehicle as a CDL licensed driver, it's proper functioning is required, and is to be verified by a simple test.

What is not a joke, is the people that would disable or sabotage a system that another driver has to drive, still exists in this industry and hasn't been removed soon enough from the industry, as far as I'm concerned. That of course, is my opinion, backed of course, by the number of drivers and companies that are getting cited for being to dumb to test, find and fix their ABS problems that they themselves created.

Go Figure.

 

I guess you missed my point. No, they can't fire you but they can and will make you quit. You think companies like that care anything about keeping a "good" driver? Nope. They'll just fill the seat with the next newbie that's available, at an entry level salary, and maybe this one won't whine too much about broken equipment.

 

It IS a FMCSA violation to have a light stay on. I know this because fuel trailers cant have any lights on while loading and you have to leave the pigtail in to ground the truck through the pigtail to the loading rack. The warning light is disconnected with special permission from DOT. We get a pass from DOT but they all say that for anyone else its a ticket.