Equipment issues/when to refuse equipment

Hello ! Coming on here to ask a question / talk about a predicament I’m in.
Started this job 2 ish months ago and pretty much every single day whatever truck I’m assigned has an issue or “issues”.
This job is local with occasional regional runs (250 miles one way) & the thing is if it was only local I wouldn’t care too much about these issues. But when they give me that regional & a truck with safety issues I get a bit worried. These regional runs mainly go on either 45 to Houston,35 south to Austin /Waco , 20 eastbound to LA , and 35 North to OKC. all of these runs pass scale houses unfortunately & since this company doesn’t really take care of their equipment every time you pass a scale you will get pulled in 9/10.

It’s getting to the point where im worried they will assign me a regional run & a junker eventually that could land me a ticket. I’ve brought up these issues to them multiple times and it seems like every day I get in whichever truck I’m assigned & I find a new issue that the previous driver somehow didn’t find. This whole situation is no bueno because if I go complain to them they could just fire me for a unrelated reason & find a new driver that doesn’t really give a #### about their license, or I just keep quiet and run the Risk of landing a ticket.

I’m coming up on my 1 year of experience & It’s a tough call on what to do since I won’t be able to land any decent local jobs with less than 1 year. A lot of the companies I want to try to go to will not take you if you have tickets/violations so I’m trying to be very careful.

 

Get a printed, detailed list from your safety dept. on what would be an OOS issue. Get a list from DPS that would be an OOS issue. Compare the two.
If you don’t feel comfortable with a particular issue, bring to the attention of the Safety dept. for clarification.
Also review previous inspection reports on the equipment you are assigned, and see if, and how the issue was remedied.

 

At my last driving job we would be able to see the previous DVIR the driver put in when they left for the day. Here we send the DVIR’s by email so I can’t see any reports or Post trips other drivers made. It would make it way easier if they used a system that shares DVIR’s. Our safety dept is 1 man at the office. I’ll reach out to him and request a list like you said. Not sure if he will oblige though.

 

Unless it's something seriously major, I would just deal with it until you get your year in. You've done it this long so I don't see why a little longer would be a big deal.

 

What would be considered “seriously major”

The worst I’ve seen so far was a Volvo that will randomly accelerate, decelerate when CC is on or if the computer thought you were going over 65. would also randomly brake due to an error with the crash prevention camera/radar system. Luckily didn’t stop me in the middle of the freeway but it did lock up on a back road while I was running.

 

Faulty cruise control isn’t a violation. It’s not required to be functional.

What are the actual safety issues you are dealing with?

 

I don't see a safety issue there but only you can make the call. You're the Captain.

 

Correct technically the CC issue isn’t a violation it’s just a pain. I’d imagine the truck randomly completely locking up the brakes due to the Crash detection system malfunctioning could be a hazard though. Maybe I’m wrong. That truck did get put in the shop and “repaired” from what I’ve heard.

 

I can only say what I’ve seen personally so I’ll list a couple and you all can chime in.

I’ve seen drive tires with little to no tread which isn’t a super large issue with my trucks I drive. I’ve only seen a couple that were no good.

faulty lighting system on mainly our KW’s. ( lights will turn on and off randomly throughout the night

There are 2 trucks Volvo’s that actively leak oil to the point where it will drip onto the some parts of the frame/suspension.

I’d say the main one that I see a ton of is anything that has to do with lamps/lights. Some of these trucks don’t have a functioning hazard light button for whatever reason & there’s no way to manually activate them besides the switch as far as I know. Low beams being out is a big one too but not because a bulb is burnt. The wiring gets burnt out somehow & they just don’t ever have the on site technicians replace or fix them. . They just say “ oh just keep your high beams on! Stay safe! “

Most of these trucks have air leaks somewhere. Some are worse than others.

one last one I can say is that apparently a month or so ago they had like 7 people hit for out of adjustment brakes at weigh stations. So I’m sure those are ####ed on other trucks. They have actually made it a point to check brake’s regularly now & I haven’t ever even seen anything wrong with any of my trucks brakes.

 

If I were in your shoes I’d probably seek employment elsewhere.