Brake Safety Week: What Fleet Managers Need to Know

What you'll learn:

• What Brake Safety Week is and why the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) runs it
• When Brake Safety Week 2026 takes place and where inspections happen
• What inspectors look for, including this year's focus on drums and rotors
• How to prepare your vehicles and drivers before the campaign begins
• How to make brake safety a year-round habit instead of an August scramble

Brake Safety Week returns in August, and with it, a continent-wide wave of commercial vehicle brake inspections. We spoke to Mike Albert’s Maintenance Manager, Jenny Baker, about what fleet managers should expect and how to get every vehicle ready...

What is Brake Safety Week?

Brake Safety Week is an annual seven-day brake inspection and enforcement campaign run by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It's part of Operation Airbrake, a comprehensive program designed to reduce highway crashes caused by faulty brakes through inspections and education. It's one of two annual CVSA brake safety campaigns; the other is an unannounced one-day enforcement event that can happen at any time during the year.

This safety campaign exists because brake problems remain stubbornly common in commercial vehicles. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) reports that brake-related issues rank among the most frequent violations found during roadside inspections, year after year.

When is Brake Safety Week?

Brake Safety Week 2026 runs Sunday, August 23 through Saturday, August 29. CVSA-certified inspectors across North America will conduct brake inspections on commercial motor vehicles throughout the week at weigh stations, inspection sites, and roadside locations.

What do inspectors look for during Brake Safety Week?

Inspectors examine the full braking system, with a special focus this year, once again, on drums and rotors, since their condition directly affects a vehicle's braking efficiency. The CVSA warns that broken pieces of drums and rotors can come loose while a vehicle is on the road, during a route, damaging other vehicles or injuring other motorists. Some locations also use performance-based brake testers (PBBT) to measure braking performance and efficiency.

If a vehicle is found to have an out-of-service (OOS) brake violation, it's pulled off the road and restricted from driving until the necessary repairs are made. OOS violations can also affect a motor carrier's safety rating.

The most recent Brake Safety Week results show why the campaign still matters. During the 2025 event, inspectors conducted 15,175 commercial vehicle inspections across North America. While most vehicles (84.9%) had no out-of-service brake violations, 2,296 vehicles were placed out of service, an OOS rate of 15.1%. That's a step up from the roughly 13% rate the year before, and a reminder that brake health tends to slip whenever maintenance schedules do.

Common brake violations to watch for

Year after year, the same handful of problems account for most OOS brake violations:

• Worn, cracked, or contaminated brake linings and pads
• Cracked or broken drums and rotors, this year's inspection focus
• Pushrod stroke out of adjustment on air brake systems
• Air leaks, damaged hoses, or chafed tubing
• Corroded, loose, or missing brake components
• Inoperative or malfunctioning antilock braking system (ABS) warning lamps

“Brakes rarely fail out of nowhere,” says Baker. “Nearly every violation inspectors flag during these campaigns traces back to something a routine inspection would have caught weeks earlier. The fleets that struggle in August are usually the ones that went quiet on maintenance earlier in the year.”

How to prepare your fleet for Brake Safety Week

The best preparation starts weeks before the campaign. CVSA provides several free resources to get your team ready, including a brake inspection checklist that fleet managers should distribute to drivers and maintenance personnel so everyone knows exactly what inspectors will be looking for. If your drivers travel through jurisdictions that use PBBTs, share this brochure so they understand the procedures involved. This postcard also provides tips for making sure self-adjusting brakes are being diagnosed correctly.

Pre-trip inspections

Preventive maintenance is always your best defense. Well before the campaign begins, drivers should perform a brake inspection on their own or with the maintenance team, looking at all parts of the braking system with special attention to drums and rotors. Also check the air pressure to ensure it's between 90-100 psi, and measure the pushrod stroke. Alert the maintenance team and escalate repairs if anything is missing, leaking, cracked, loose, rusted, or exposed.

Driver responsibilities

OSHA requires daily pre-trip or pre-shift inspections for powered industrial trucks and work vehicles.

Drivers are your first line of defense, because they're with the vehicles every day. Make sure every driver:

• Completes thorough pre-trip and post-trip inspections, every trip, not just in August
• Knows how to identify and report warning signs like pulling, grinding, soft pedal feel, or slow air pressure buildup
• Reports brake concerns immediately rather than waiting for the next scheduled service
• Keeps inspection documentation current and accessible in the vehicle

“Treat Brake Safety Week like a pop quiz you already have the answers to,” Baker advises. “CVSA announces the dates and the focus areas months ahead of time. If your team walks through the checklist now and fixes what it finds, the last week of August becomes just another week on the calendar.”

How to make brake safety a year-round priority

The fleets that sail through Brake Safety Week are the ones that treat brake safety as a habit, not an annual event. That means consistent preventive maintenance schedules, a culture where drivers feel comfortable reporting problems early, and data that surfaces issues before they become violations. Our report on 2026 fleet driver safety trends digs into how leading fleets are building that culture, and our article on safety cameras, culture, and trust explores how technology and transparency work together to keep drivers engaged rather than surveilled.

Every inspection can be nerve-wracking, even for experienced drivers and fleet managers, especially when surprises arise. But if your fleet stays current on preventive maintenance and driver education, surprises shouldn't happen. You should pass Brake Safety Week with flying colors.

Need help preparing for Brake Safety Week or any other CVSA inspection? Our safety and collision management team can help. Reach out to us to learn more about what we can do for your fleet.

About our expert

Jenny Baker is the Maintenance Manager at Mike Albert Fleet Solutions, where she helps clients keep their vehicles safe, compliant, and on the road. Read her full bio.