16 Violations That Auto-Fail a New Entrant Audit
The carrier wants the fail list, not another article about being prepared. Here is the table in 49 CFR 385.321, including which lines fail on one event.
14 of 16
Single occurrence
Part 382
The first five
51 percent
Only two items
Next morning
Revocation notice
Ahmad Qazi
Founder & CEO, O Trucking LLC
Fact-Checked by O Trucking Owner-Operator Desk
Walks carriers through the 385.321 table without softening single occurrence
Sources:
Written by Ahmad Qazi, founder of O Trucking LLC, drawing on 9+ years dispatching for owner-operators. Learn more about us.
O Trucking16 Violations That Auto-Fail a New Entrant Audit
Key Takeaways
- Sixteen regulations. Fourteen fail the audit on a single occurrence.
- Only the log item and the periodic-inspection item use a 51 percent threshold.
- A prohibited driver, a missing CDL, or a missing insurance filing is enough.
- Operating an out-of-service vehicle before repair is a single-occurrence fail.
- The overview page is how to pass. This page does not soften the list.
- A failed audit starts a notice. It is not a verbal warning you can ignore.
Single-occurrence fails versus the 51 percent fails
49 CFR 385.321(a) says failures of safety management practices consist of a lack of basic safety management controls, or failure to comply with one or more of the regulations in paragraph (b), and will result in a notice that the new entrant's USDOT registration will be revoked. Paragraph (b) then says the new entrant will automatically fail a safety audit if found in violation of any one of the following 16 regulations. The table under that sentence is the whole list. It is not a sample.
The guideline column is blunt. For fourteen of the sixteen rows it says single occurrence. That phrase is not a suggestion that the auditor will weigh how new you are. One event that meets the row fails the audit. The two rows that do not say single occurrence say the failure requires a violation threshold of 51 percent or more of examined records. Those are item 13 and item 16. Do not spread that 51 percent across the other fourteen. The how-to-pass article is the new-entrant safety audit. It does not replace this table.
Drug and alcohol program: the first five lines
Item 1 is 382.115(a) or 382.115(b): failing to implement an alcohol and controlled-substances testing program. Domestic and foreign carriers are both named. Single occurrence.
Item 2 is 382.201: using a driver known to have an alcohol concentration of 0.04 or greater to perform a safety-sensitive function. Single occurrence.
Item 3 is 382.211: using a driver who has refused to submit to an alcohol or controlled-substances test required under Part 382. Single occurrence.
Item 4 is 382.215: using a driver known to have tested positive for a controlled substance. Single occurrence.
Item 5 is 382.305: failing to implement a random controlled-substances or alcohol testing program. Single occurrence. A one-truck carrier does not get a pass because there is no safety department. No random program is the violation, the first time an auditor looks.
Using the driver is the act in items 2, 3, and 4. Knowing about the result or the refusal and dispatching anyway is the row. A refusal the carrier never learned about is a different problem. The row the table writes is the use.
CDL, disqualification, and a physically unqualified driver
Item 6 is 383.3(a) or 383.23(a): knowingly using a driver who does not possess a valid CDL. Single occurrence.
Item 7 is 383.37(b): knowingly allowing, requiring, permitting, or authorizing an employee to operate a CMV with a commercial learner's permit or CDL that a state has disqualified, when the person has lost the right to operate a CMV in a state, or when the person is disqualified to operate a CMV. Single occurrence.
Item 8 is 383.51(a): knowingly allowing, requiring, permitting, or authorizing a driver who is disqualified to drive a CMV. The table says this violation refers to a driver operating a CMV as defined under 383.5. Single occurrence.
Item 11 is 391.15(a): knowingly using a disqualified driver. Single occurrence.
Item 12 is 391.11(b)(4): knowingly using a physically unqualified driver. The table says this refers to a driver operating a CMV as defined under 390.5. Single occurrence. An expired medical certification on a non-excepted interstate driver is the fact pattern carriers hope will be treated as paperwork. The table does not say paperwork. It says single occurrence.
Knowingly is in the rows. A file that shows the carrier had the license, the MVR, or the medical status, and used the driver anyway, is the knowledge. Do not plan on ignorance as a strategy after you have been told to check the record.
Fourteen rows do not have a percentage
If the guideline column says single occurrence, one qualifying event fails the audit. Do not average it against clean files.
No insurance filing
Item 9 is 387.7(a): operating a motor vehicle without having in effect the required minimum levels of financial responsibility coverage. Single occurrence.
Item 10 is 387.31(a): operating a passenger-carrying vehicle without having in effect the required minimum levels of financial responsibility. Single occurrence.
A binder in the glove box is not item 9 if the required filing is not in effect. The row is operating without the coverage the section requires. A property carrier does not borrow the passenger row, and a passenger carrier does not satisfy item 10 with a property filing. This page does not restate the dollar minimums. Those live in Part 387 and change with the operation. The automatic-fail point is operating without the required coverage in effect.
Logs and the annual inspection, which need a pattern
Item 13 is 395.8(a): failing to require a driver to make a record of duty status. The guideline is a threshold. Automatic failure triggers at 51 percent or more of the records examined. Half the files plus one more, not a single missing day, is the row. A carrier that required logs and has a few gaps is in a different conversation from a carrier that did not require them for most of the days the auditor pulled.
Item 16 is 396.17(a): using a commercial motor vehicle not periodically inspected. Same 51 percent threshold of examined records. One truck with a current annual inspection and one truck without it may or may not cross 51 percent, depending on what was examined. Do not assume one stale sticker fails this row. Do not assume a fleet of stale stickers survives it. Count the records the auditor examined.
These two are the only 51 percent rows. People memorize 51 percent and then apply it to a positive drug test. That is the mistake the table is written to prevent.
Out-of-service vehicle and the DVIR defect
Item 14 is 396.9(c)(2): requiring or permitting operation of a commercial motor vehicle declared out of service before repairs are made. Single occurrence. The shop being a few miles away is not a footnote in this row.
Item 15 is 396.11(a)(3): failing to correct out-of-service defects listed by the driver in a driver vehicle inspection report before the vehicle is operated. Single occurrence.
A failed audit under any of these sixteen produces the notice in 385.321(a) that registration will be revoked. What the carrier may still do during the corrective-action window is a different section, 385.319, and a different page. Do not read this table as the revocation happening at the exit interview. Do not read the exit interview as permission to keep the violation in place. The next morning after a failed audit is the morning you start the corrective action the notice will require, not the morning the MC number disappears by itself.
Pro Tip
Revocation, if it later happens because the plan is missed, is not the end of the story in a way that preserves the old clock. A new application starts monitoring over. That consequence sits on the monitoring page. This page stops at the sixteen lines that make the audit a failure.
Foreign carriers are not omitted from item 1. The table cites 382.115(b) beside 382.115(a). A new entrant that operates in the United States under a foreign base still has to implement the testing program the row names. The passport of the driver does not change single occurrence into a percentage.
Keep the table with the audit file. A summary that drops the guideline column is how a single-occurrence row gets remembered as a pattern.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does one missing random program fail the audit?
Yes. Item 5, 382.305, is single occurrence. There is no percentage of drivers you may leave out of the pool.
We had one driver without a medical card. Is that a pattern item?
No. Item 12, knowingly using a physically unqualified driver under 391.11(b)(4), is single occurrence.
Which two items need 51 percent?
Item 13, failing to require a record of duty status under 395.8(a), and item 16, using a vehicle not periodically inspected under 396.17(a).
If we fail, is the authority revoked that morning?
The audit failure produces a notice that registration will be revoked unless the carrier completes the corrective action the notice specifies, on the clock in 385.319. Do not treat the exit interview as the revocation, and do not treat the notice as optional.
Is this the same list as acute and critical violations?
No. Acute and critical violations feed a safety rating under Appendix B to Part 385. Several topics overlap. The lists are not the same document. This page is only 385.321.
Where is the pass overview?
On the new-entrant safety audit guide. Use that page for how the visit works. Use this page when you need the sixteen lines.
Read the sixteen lines before the auditor does.
O Trucking does not represent carriers in safety audits. After authority is ACTIVE, dispatch is a flat weekly fee.