As touchstones on the North American commercial vehicle industry’s calendar go, Brake Safety Week is one of the biggest – and the 2025 installment, Aug. 24-30, is approaching. The team at Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems (Bendix) offers several tips for being prepared, staying safe, and passing inspection.

The annual weeklong inspection and enforcement event run by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) examines vehicles across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. 

“During last year’s CVSA Brake Safety Week, nearly 13% of the 16,725 vehicles inspected – a total of 2,149 – were placed out of service for brake-related issues,” said Brian Screeton, manager – technical training and service at Bendix. “Proper maintenance practices and regular equipment inspection can help prevent many violations. What goes on in the wheel-ends and braking system directly impacts multiple aspects of safe vehicle operation – there’s no overstating the importance of keeping up with maintenance and inspection of those areas.”

Screeton also pointed out that how well the brakes and wheel-ends perform when they’re needed is tied to proper operation of many other vehicle systems, including stopping power and helping support the performance of higher-level technologies like collision mitigation.

Brake Safety Week is part of CVSA’s Operation Airbrake initiative – an outreach and enforcement campaign that aims to reduce the number of highway crashes caused by faulty brake systems on commercial motor vehicles. The event involves local, state, provincial, territorial, and federal motor carrier safety officials in the United States, Canada, and Mexico inspecting large trucks and buses, focusing on brake system violations. 

What to Expect During an Inspection

CVSA-certified inspectors will conduct routine commercial motor vehicle inspections throughout the week, focusing on brake systems and components. They’ll be checking for:

• Air leaks around brake components and lines

• Air pressure in the target range of 90-100 psi when checking for air leaks

• Broken springs in the spring brake housing section of the parking brake

• Holes in tubing caused by rubbing

• Mismatched air brake chamber sizes across axles

• Missing, nonfunctioning, loose, or cracked parts

• Proper operation of the tractor protection system

• Proper brake chamber pushrod travel

• Drum brake S-cam has “cammed over”

• Slack adjusters on the same axle are not at the same length

• Warning device functionality (such as antilock braking system MIL – Malfunction Indicator Light)

For this year’s Brake Safety Week, inspectors will keep a special eye on drums and rotors.

How Fleets Can Prepare for Brake Safety Week

“Inspections – pre-, post-trip, and regular – can make an important difference toward catching brake-related issues before they become problems, everything from damaged components like air brake chambers or pushrods to loose hoses,” Screeton said. 

He recommends the following: 

Every day:

• Check for damaged or loose-hanging air brake chambers, pushrods, or slack adjusters.

• Make sure slack adjusters on each axle are extended out to the same angle. Different angles can indicate an out-of-adjustment brake, a broken spring brake power spring, or a broken service brake return spring.

• Examine tubing and hose condition, positioning, and connections.

Every week:

• Perform a 90- to 100-psi brake application with the wheels chocked and the parking brakes released, and listen for leaks.

• Check air disc brake (ADB) rotors for cracks.

• Inspect drum brake linings for wear and cracks.

Every month:

• Check for moisture in the air system to prevent contamination that leads to component deterioration and system leaks.

Any time you’ve got a vehicle in the shop, it’s also worth greasing the drum brake S-cam tubes and automatic slack adjusters. This quick process helps prevent rust and corrosion, purges out water and contaminants from the components, and helps keep the slack functioning properly.

Differences Between Drums and Discs

Air disc brakes and drum brakes have a few differing maintenance needs where Brake Safety Week is concerned – key among them the measurement of brake stroke. 

Because air disc brakes include an internal adjustment mechanism, their brake stroke is not measured externally, as is the case with drum brakes. The internal adjustment mechanism significantly lowers the risk of out-of-adjustment violations.

“Measuring a drum brake’s chamber stroke is a matter of checking the distance from the face of the air brake chamber to the clevis pin with the brakes released, and then again after a fully charged brake application,” Screeton explained. “The difference between these measurements is the brake stroke, and its maximum length depends upon the brake chamber type and size.”

Improperly adjusted brakes can also drag, impacting fuel efficiency and speeding up pad wear, or experience decreased stopping power. Bendix has developed an infographic (included below and attached) to note the differing maintenance needs of air disc and drum brakes.

Parts Selection for Brake System Health

“If you notice it’s time for new brake friction, then make sure to keep things up to spec: Not all friction that is marketed as ‘acceptable’ under current reduced stopping distance (RSD) regulations will actually perform to that standard,” Screeton said. “Whether you’re replacing air disc brake pads or drum brake shoes, select components that will ensure the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) requirements are met so that the vehicle remains compliant.”

The aftermarket is more crowded than ever, particularly when it comes to brake friction. 

The wrong choice can harm your system and undermine vehicle safety. Complications arising from improper friction selection can include cracks, degradation of braking performance, or damage to other wheel-end components. Remember, these are things that a roadside inspector can note and penalize you for.

Keep in mind product advancements that can help prevent wheel-end issues typical during Brake Safety Week, including sealed spring brake chambers and air disc brake pad wear sensing technology. Sealed chambers, like the Bendix EnduraSure-Pro, are designed to address the main vulnerability of traditional models – exposure to contaminants, which can corrode the power spring and lead to its failure.

Air disc brake wear sensing technology, such as Bendix iSense Pro, alerts fleets, via telematics, when ADB pads and rotors are nearing end of life. It also helps fleets avoid the risk of damaging costly rotors – rotors being a focal point of this year’s inspections – through early detection while assisting with the development of optimal friction replacement schedules.

“Be aware of the friction couple, as well – that is, the pairing of brake pads and rotors in air disc brakes,” Screeton said. “When those parts are designed in isolation, and then paired together, problems can follow – including stress cracks from heat and grooves from uneven wear. Choose ADBs, such as the Bendix ADB22X, in which the components are engineered to work together, which can help prevent issues before they start.”

Screeton said you’ll also want to protect the air supply against corrosive oil aerosols that lead to leaks and potential violations. Bendix recommends using an oil-coalescing air dryer cartridge like the Bendix PuraGuard. 

Oil-coalescing cartridges can be used to replace standard cartridges, but the reverse is not the case: You shouldn’t downgrade from an oil-coalescing cartridge to a standard. Also, not all oil-coalescing cartridges work the same. 

Bendix recommends you replace a cartridge with the same one that was removed from the OEM vehicle. 

Tech Support for Maintenance Issues

“Any indication of something out of compliance can be a sign of potentially wider maintenance issues,” Screeton said. “Taken individually, everything inspectors are looking for – such as a kink in an air hose or an active full-stability light on the dash – may seem inconsequential. But it’s critical to take this holistic approach to upkeep when considering the complex interconnectivity of the entire brake system and more advanced safety technologies. One small sign of something out of compliance can be an indicator of more widespread maintenance issues.”

Screeton emphasizes the importance of communication between drivers and technicians.

“A driver out on the road may be the first one to notice an issue with the truck,” he said. “It’s vital that the driver be able to tell the technician what happened, where it happened, and details such as weather conditions. And it’s just as vital for the technician to ask questions to gain a clearer understanding of the situation.”

Keeping vehicles operating safely also depends on technicians remaining knowledgeable about ever-advancing commercial vehicle safety components and technologies. Fleets have a variety of options from Bendix when it comes to equipping technicians with the most current and in-depth training and information:

• Bendix Brake School, one of the industry’s longest-running in-person, hands-on training programs with classes scheduled across the country; it also includes virtual options

• On-site maintenance demos and system troubleshooting education

• The recently expanded Bendix On-Line Brake School, which in early 2025 surpassed 200,000 registered users who can access a Bendix-developed curriculum covering the full spectrum of braking and active vehicle safety system product topics; it provides more than 100 maintenance courses and tests for sharpening technical skills 24/7/365. Bendix also provides customized educational plans for fleets and industry organizations, along with tracking tools and progress monitoring.

• At the B2Bendix.com hub, service manuals, product training documents, installation instructions, and more can be found in the document library.

Field-tested sales and service professionals form the heart of Bendix’s training and education programs, along with its veteran field technical support team and the Bendix Tech Team, an expert technical support group providing service advice, brake system troubleshooting, and product training.