Section 393.47 requires that the service brakes be capable of stopping the vehicle within the prescribed distance, and §393.47(e) sets the maximum readjustment limits for slack adjusters. Brakes exceeding the readjustment limit are out of adjustment.
Severity weight
A single brake out of adjustment is severity weight 4. Multiple out-of-adjustment brakes climb the weight ladder quickly. The 20% rule (under the North American OOS Criteria) places the vehicle out of service when 20% or more of the brakes on the vehicle are defective.
How to prevent it
- Run a stroke check at every annual inspection and at intervals consistent with your maintenance program.
- Train drivers to listen for unusual sounds and feel for pull during pre-trip brake tests.
- Replace shoes and adjust slacks before they reach the limit, not after.
- Use automatic slack adjusters but inspect them — automatic doesn't mean self-correcting.
How Roadworthy HQ helps
A brake-adjustment citation shows up in Roadworthy HQ as part of the inspection it came from, not as a record of its own: the app does not store individual violation codes. Log the roadside inspection on the vehicle's Inspections tab: date, state, level, driver, the number of violations, and whether it was out-of-service. For an out-of-service inspection the 15-day §396.9(d)(3) repair-certification countdown stays on that tab until you enter the certification date. The rule's 15 days cover every violation on the report, not only out-of-service ones, so for a non-OOS inspection that date is yours to track. The repair itself goes in the vehicle's maintenance log: date, type, what was done, who did it, and cost. DVIRs are logged per vehicle with the defect described in your own words, and a defect marked safety-affecting that is logged without a repair certification sends a critical alert. The §396.17 annual inspection report uploads to the vehicle, with reminders 60, 30, and 7 days before the next one is due.