Roadside inspections offer one of the clearest public views into the condition of commercial vehicles operating across the United States. Federal records track how many vehicles and drivers inspectors examined, how many were placed out of service, and how frequently carriers were involved in reportable crashes.
A vehicle can be placed out of service when an inspection identifies a condition serious enough that the truck cannot continue operating until the problem is corrected. The resulting out-of-service rate represents the percentage of vehicle inspections that ended with an out-of-service order—not the percentage of a company’s entire fleet that was deemed unsafe.
The distinction matters. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration says the performance information in its Safety Measurement System is intended to help enforcement agencies decide which carriers may warrant additional attention. The agency cautions that the information should not be treated as an overall federal safety grade. FMCSA also notes that crash records establish a carrier’s involvement in a reportable crash, not who was responsible for it.
To examine how federal inspection findings differ among large interstate carriers, THE702FIRM Injury Attorneys, a Las Vegas personal injury law firm, reviewed FMCSA carrier records and Federal Highway Administration freight-corridor data. This analysis examines three active interstate carriers with more than 500 power units and at least 400 vehicle inspections whose latest reported vehicle out-of-service rates exceeded the national average of 22.26%. Freight corridors are included as geographic context based on each carrier’s registered headquarters; they do not represent verified company route shares.
North American Van Lines: 31.3% vehicle out-of-service rate
North American Van Lines reported 1,333 power units and 1,357 drivers in its latest FMCSA company snapshot. Of 485 vehicle inspections conducted during the preceding 24 months, 152 resulted in an out-of-service order, yielding an out-of-service rate of 31.3%. That was 9 percentage points above the 22.26% national average reported by FMCSA.
Its driver out-of-service rate moved in the other direction. Inspectors placed drivers out of service during 3.9% of 883 driver inspections, compared with a national average of 6.67%.
In the same report, FMCSA recorded 34 reportable crashes involving the carrier during the same 24-month period: two fatal crashes, 11 involving injuries, and 21 requiring a tow. The agency notes that its figures document crash involvement without assigning responsibility. North American Van Lines remained active and authorized to operate and held a satisfactory federal safety rating in the snapshot dated July 25, 2026.
The carrier’s registered headquarters is in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Interstate 69 passes through the city, while Interstate 469 forms a bypass that connects with I-69 on Fort Wayne’s north and south sides. FHWA designates the portion of I-69 extending north from Indianapolis to the Michigan line as part of the Primary Highway Freight System, a network of nationally important freight routes. I-469 is another component of the National Highway Freight Network.
Transco Lines: 29.7% vehicle out-of-service rate
Transco Lines reported 565 power units and 655 drivers. Inspectors conducted 671 vehicle inspections during the 24-month reporting window and placed vehicles out of service in 199 of them, resulting in a 29.7% rate. The company’s driver out-of-service rate was substantially lower: 14 of 1,343 driver inspections resulted in an out-of-service order, or 1%.
The carrier was involved in 56 reportable crashes during the period covered by the July 19, 2026, snapshot. One involved a fatality, 15 involved injuries, and 40 required a tow. Transco was active, authorized to operate, and had a satisfactory federal safety rating.
Transco’s registered address is in Russellville, Arkansas, along the Interstate 40 corridor. FHWA classifies the entire 284-mile portion of I-40 between Arkansas’ borders with Oklahoma and Tennessee as part of the Primary Highway Freight System. Federal freight-flow analysis has also identified I-40, along with I-30, as one of Arkansas’ highest-volume routes for trucks passing through the state.
Atlas Van Lines: 24.1% vehicle out-of-service rate
Atlas Van Lines had the largest fleet in this group, reporting 2,731 power units. FMCSA records showed 879 vehicle inspections during the previous 24 months. Of those, 212 resulted in vehicles being placed out of service, for a rate of 24.1%.
The company’s driver out-of-service rate was 4.3%, based on 71 out-of-service findings among 1,634 driver inspections. Both the vehicle and driver rates were closer to their respective national averages than those of the other carriers examined.
Atlas was involved in 61 reportable crashes during the 24-month period: none were classified as fatal, 13 involved injuries, and 48 required a tow. Its July 2026 FMCSA snapshot listed the carrier as active and authorized, with a satisfactory safety rating following a 2024 compliance review.
Atlas is headquartered in Evansville, Indiana, near the southern end of Interstate 69. The Indiana Department of Transportation describes I-69 as a primary north-south artery for moving goods and services and as part of a longer corridor intended to connect the Canadian and Mexican borders. Portions of I-69 around Evansville are included in the National Highway Freight Network.
What the federal records can and cannot show
Out-of-service rates provide a standardized way to compare roadside inspection outcomes, but they do not measure every vehicle in a carrier’s fleet. Commercial vehicles are inspected at different frequencies, and enforcement agencies may focus inspections on particular carriers, vehicles, locations, or observed conditions.
The numbers also describe different dimensions of carrier operations. A relatively high vehicle out-of-service rate can appear alongside a below-average driver out-of-service rate, as it did for all three carriers examined here. And although crash counts add context, they do not establish fault or show how many miles a carrier traveled for each crash.
All three carriers remained authorized to operate and held satisfactory federal safety ratings in the latest records reviewed. FMCSA specifically notes that roadside performance indicators are not substitutes for those formal ratings or for a broader assessment of a company’s safety practices.
Likewise, the highways identified here are major freight corridors near the carriers’ registered headquarters, not confirmed rankings of the roads their trucks use most. Public FMCSA inspection data can support an analysis of the states in which each carrier was inspected most frequently, but it does not include carrier-specific highway mileage or complete route histories.
Used carefully, the records are best understood as a snapshot of what inspectors found, rather than a verdict on how a company operates across every mile of its network.
