The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has recently revoked the approval status of three electronic logging devices (ELDs).
On Monday, November 18, FMCSA revealed that the Keep Tracking, Rollingtrans ELD – ACCURATE ONE, and Rollingtrans ELD Plus – ACCURATE PLUS had been removed from their roster of sanctioned devices.
The removal was due to these ELDs not complying with the minimum standards outlined in 49 CFR part 395, subpart B, appendix A. Specifically, this regulation mandates that “an ELD without a printer be designed so that the display may be reasonably viewed by an authorized safety official without (the official) entering the commercial motor vehicle.”
Truck operators using any of the three disapproved ELDs have until January 17, 2025, to replace these devices with compliant alternatives. Failure to do so will leave them with a “no record-of-duty status” and result in being placed out of service.
Until the deadline, carriers relying on the now-invalidated ELDs should revert to “using paper logs or logging software” to document their hours-of-service data. FMCSA also advised that, in the interim, “safety officials are encouraged not to cite drivers using these revoked ELDs” for lacking a registered device or having no record-of-duty status.
Should the ELD providers rectify all the noted shortcomings, the devices can potentially return to the approved list. However, FMCSA notes that such corrections are infrequent, urging motor carriers to proactively “take the actions listed above now to avoid compliance issues in the event that the deficiencies are not addressed by the ELD providers.”
To date, FMCSA has revoked 14 ELDs this year for similar reasons. Among these, only one device has regained approval.
Presently, there are 1,018 devices on the FMCSA’s Registered ELDs list, all self-certified by their manufacturers to meet federal requirements. While FMCSA doesn’t officially endorse these devices, the current certification process has led to challenges for carriers in maintaining compliance.
In November 2022, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association urged the FMCSA to develop a robust certification system for ELDs, stating that the existing self-certification process has proven a “major disservice to motor carriers.”
Beyond self-certification, FMCSA permits ELD manufacturers to “self-revoke” non-compliant devices. Currently, there are 242 ELDs on the revoked list; out of these, only 31 were directly removed by FMCSA, with the rest categorized as “self-revoked.”
Source: Land Line