Why Fleet Maintenance Records Matter After a Truck Accident

Accidents involving semi-trucks occur more frequently than they should. When they do occur and an investigation follows, it is often found that the semi-truck was not maintained in accordance with federal law. Fleet maintenance records can be critical for gathering evidence to recover compensation for victims in truck accidents.

How Federal Law Applies to Truck Maintenance

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, trucking companies are required to inspect their fleet vehicles on a regular basis, repair any defects in a prompt manner, and maintain detailed inspection and service records for a minimum of one year. When a company makes poor decisions regarding maintenance or fails to make necessary repairs, that information is revealed in truck maintenance records. This is precisely why those records are so valuable to a truck accident lawyer like those at Thomas Law Offices working to build a claim for the victim of a truck accident.

Some of the most common maintenance violations include:

• Brake System Problems – Leaking air lines, failing ABS systems, worn pads

• Tire Defects and Failures – Improper inflation, bald treads, sidewall damage

• Lighting and Electrical Issues – Malfunctioning turn signals, faulty lights

• Suspension and Steering Failures – Broken springs, worn shocks, loose components

Following an accident, truck maintenance records often reveal that the trucking company knew or should have known about such problems weeks and sometimes even months before the accident occurred. In many cases, the issues could have been resolved with a simple repair, but doing so would have resulted in downtime and cost money. Instead of addressing the problem, the company decided to ignore it and take the risk.

How a Truck Accident Attorney Recovers Fleet Maintenance Records

Once an accident has occurred, trucking companies are well aware of what will be revealed in the fleet maintenance records. As a result, they will do everything possible not to hand over those records. This is precisely why victims of a truck accident need an experienced truck accident attorney to work on their behalf to compel disclosure of the records. The first step is to send a legal notice to the company, which requires them to preserve all relevant evidence. This evidence includes the fleet maintenance records as well as truck repair orders, inspection reports, and any associated electronic data. This step is crucial. Without it, critical evidence often vanishes.

Truck maintenance records are not only important for revealing that proper steps were not taken to maintain the truck and repair issues, but also to establish that victims of the crashes were owed a duty of care by the trucking company under federal law. Essentially, those records demonstrate that the company either knew that repairs were needed or should have known that a dangerous situation existed and failed to take action. Fleet maintenance records prove that unaddressed maintenance issues either caused or contributed to the accident.

In many instances, after evaluating truck maintenance records, repeated warnings regarding the same issues are discovered. This demonstrates a pattern of neglect on the part of the trucking company. For instance, it is not uncommon to find inspection reports that were falsified or required inspection records that are completely missing. Such patterns are important both for supporting punitive damages as well as demonstrating federal regulatory violations.

When faced with a lawsuit, trucking companies will also have attorneys working on their behalf and with the insurance company. In defense of their clients, those attorneys will often attempt to shift blame for the accident to other factors, such as road conditions or the weather. In many instances, they may also attempt to blame the victims of the crash. Fleet maintenance records serve as solid evidence to demonstrate precisely who is to blame for the accident.

The Importance of Time in a Truck Accident

Unfortunately, time is not on your side when you are involved in a truck accident. The longer you wait to obtain assistance from a truck accident lawyer and file a claim, the more difficult it is to obtain the necessary records. Quite commonly, fleet maintenance records are conveniently lost or destroyed. It’s also entirely too easy for such records to be altered before an attorney has the opportunity to subpoena them.

While technically an individual could attempt to obtain the maintenance records on their own, such attempts are usually not successful. Without a subpoena, trucking companies know they are not required to turn over the records. Therefore, if you do not have an attorney specializing in such cases working on your behalf, the trucking company will likely stall or even outright refuse to turn over the records.

Additionally, the process of evaluating such records often requires expert analysis. A professional can evaluate the maintenance schedules and associated maintenance codes to identify any factors that may have contributed to the accident.

Maintenance records are not only critical for establishing negligence on the part of the trucking company, but also to support specific types of damage that resulted from the accident. For instance, fleet maintenance records can directly link the condition of the truck to the injuries a victim sustained in the accident. Such records can be vital for supporting a claim for long-term rehabilitation costs, medical care, and surgeries.

The records can also be important for demonstrating the financial impact of the crash. Truck accidents commonly result in lost wages and possibly even the need for the victim to change careers due to an injury sustained in the crash. Maintenance records can be used to prove claims for diminished earning capacity, lost income, and property damage.

Finally, fleet maintenance records are useful for proving personal impact, such as emotional trauma, pain and suffering, and quality-of-life changes that resulted from the negligence of the trucking company.

Lori Naranjo covers topics of New Technology in the digital age.