How to check a trucking company's safety record after a North Carolina truck accident
September 2026: first published.
The federal safety record of an interstate trucking company is public and free at the FMCSA Company Snapshot, searched by the USDOT number on both sides of the truck. It reports inspections, out-of-service results, crashes and the safety rating, if one was assigned.
Most people assume that after a serious crash somebody from the federal government opens a file on the trucking company. There is a file. It has been open since the company registered, anyone can read it for free, and after a crash nobody reads it for you.
What sits inside it is narrower than the name suggests. The record tells you who you are dealing with and what roadside inspectors found. It does not tell you who caused your crash.
At a glance
- Federal rules require the operating carrier's legal name and its number preceded by the letters USDOT on both sides of the vehicle, under 49 CFR 390.21.
- The Safety Measurement System publishes a carrier's roadside inspection and crash data, but the FAST Act of 2015 removed property carriers' relative percentiles from public display.
- A carrier with no rating is an unrated carrier under 49 CFR 385.3, assigned only after a compliance review.
- Under 49 U.S.C. 504(f), no part of a required motor carrier accident report or of an FMCSA investigation of that accident can be used in a civil action for damages related to a matter mentioned in it.
How do you find the trucking company's USDOT number?
The USDOT number appears on both sides of the truck. Federal rules require the operating carrier's legal name or a single trade name, together with its identification number preceded by the letters USDOT, in letters that contrast sharply with the background and are readily legible in daylight.
- The marking is required on each side of the power unit, so a scene photograph of the cab door commonly captures both the carrier name and the USDOT number.
- If another company's name also appears on the truck, the operating carrier's name and number follow it, preceded by the words operated by.
- The FMCSA Company Snapshot search accepts a USDOT number, an MC or MX docket number, or a company name.
- A trailer can belong to a different company than the tractor, and intermodal equipment carries its own marking under 49 CFR 390.21(g).
- In North Carolina the investigating officer's crash report, form DMV-349, can carry the commercial vehicle and carrier information recorded at the scene.
Exception: A rented or leased power unit can carry the lessor's marking rather than the operating carrier's. 49 CFR 390.21(e) sets out which name and number appear.
According to 49 CFR 390.21, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, as of September 2026.
If nobody photographed the door, the number is still findable. The crash report carries it. Based on my experience the harder problem is not finding the number. It is that the number on the door belongs to one company and the trailer belongs to another and the driver was leased to a third and only one of them sends you an adjuster.
More on how I handle commercial truck cases, including who can be held liable.
What does the FMCSA Company Snapshot show about a carrier?
The Company Snapshot is a free electronic record of a carrier's identification, size, commodity information and safety record, including the safety rating if one has been assigned, a roadside out-of-service inspection summary and crash information. The inspection and crash figures cover the 24 months before the query date.
- Identification: legal name, doing-business-as name, address, USDOT and MC or MX numbers.
- Size: power units and drivers, as the carrier reported them on Form MCS-150.
- Inspections: driver and vehicle inspection counts, the number placed out of service, and the out-of-service percentage beside the national average.
- Crashes: fatal, injury and tow-away counts reported by the states, listed without any determination as to responsibility.
- Safety rating: Satisfactory, Conditional or Unsatisfactory with the date assigned, or no rating at all.
Exception: The inspection and crash figures run on a rolling 24-month window. Anything older is absent from the Snapshot even though it happened.
According to the Safety and Fitness Electronic Records system, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, as of September 2026.
The out-of-service percentage is the line I read first. A carrier whose vehicles are pulled off the road at several times the national rate has a maintenance problem that somebody wrote down before your crash happened. On the I-40 and I-85 run through Burlington and Graham, that is a red flag and the inspection reports behind it are worth reading one at a time. The Snapshot gives you the count. The reports give you the brake or the tire or the light that failed.
The Burlington and I-40 corridor page covers the evidence preserved in an Alamance County truck case.
Why are a freight carrier's CSA scores not public?
The FAST Act of 2015 removed property carriers' relative percentiles from public display in the Safety Measurement System. Inspection data, crash data, investigation results and the measures for the public BASICs stay visible, while the Crash Indicator and Hazardous Materials Compliance BASICs remain hidden from public view.
- Public for a property carrier: roadside inspection and crash data, investigation results, and the measures for all public Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories.
- Not public for a property carrier: the Crash Indicator BASIC, the Hazardous Materials Compliance BASIC, and the relative percentiles.
- A measure comes directly from a carrier's own safety data. A percentile ranks it against carriers with similar safety events, and the percentile is what the FAST Act closed.
- All information on passenger carriers remains public. A carrier logged in can see its own complete results.
- As of September 2026, the public SMS file was published August 10, 2026 and current as of July 31, 2026, so it lags roadside events by weeks.
Exception: A gap in the public display is not a gap in the record. The inspection reports and crash records behind a hidden percentile exist whether or not the percentile is shown.
According to the Safety Measurement System, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, as of September 2026.
A hidden score is not a bad score. FMCSA is prohibited from displaying the ranking so it displays the underlying data instead. I usually find the underlying data more useful anyway. A percentile is a comparison. An inspection report is a fact about one truck on one day.
What does a Not Rated safety rating mean?
Not Rated means FMCSA has not assigned the carrier a safety rating. An unrated carrier under 49 CFR 385.3 is one to which no rating has been assigned, and a rating is assigned only after a compliance review.
- Satisfactory: adequate safety management controls are in place and functioning to meet the safety fitness standard in 49 CFR 385.5.
- Conditional: controls are not adequate for compliance with that standard, which could result in the occurrences listed in 385.5(a) through (k).
- Unsatisfactory: controls are not adequate, and those occurrences have resulted.
- Unrated: no safety rating has been assigned by FMCSA.
- A rating follows a compliance review and issues within 30 days of its completion, under 49 CFR 385.9.
Exception: A rating carries the date it was assigned. A Satisfactory rating from a review years before a crash describes the carrier as investigators found it that day.
According to 49 CFR 385.3, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, as of September 2026.
Unrated is the most misread line on the page. A reader sees no rating and hears no problems found. What I tell the client is that those are two different things. It rules out a compliance review and it rules out nothing else. A carrier can have inspections and audits and enforcement history and still show no rating.
What can FMCSA safety data prove in a North Carolina injury case?
Public FMCSA data identifies the carrier and documents its inspection and crash history. It does not establish fault, and under 49 U.S.C. 504(f) no part of a required motor carrier accident report or of an FMCSA investigation of that accident can be used in a civil action for damages related to a matter mentioned in it.
| Scenario | Likely rule or coverage issue | Evidence needed | What to do next |
|---|---|---|---|
| No safety rating shown | Unrated carrier under 49 CFR 385.3; FMCSA has assigned no Part 385 rating | Driver qualification files, maintenance and hours-of-service records | Read the absence as unexamined, not clean, and check the inspection history |
| Vehicle out-of-service rate above the national average | Roadside vehicle findings, not a fault determination | The inspection reports behind the percentage | Read each report for the component that failed |
| A crash listed on the Snapshot | Involvement reported without any determination as to responsibility | The state crash report and the investigating agency's file | Do not read the listing as fault in either direction |
| A crash marked Reviewed, Not Preventable | An FMCSA preventability determination, excluded from the Crash Indicator BASIC | Independent evidence of the crash sequence | Treat it as an agency notation, not a fault finding, and build fault from the crash record |
| Operating authority inactive or revoked | A registration and insurance status, not a safety finding | Licensing and insurance filings and the equipment lease | Identify the operating carrier and every policy on the risk |
Exception: None of this changes the filing deadline. A personal injury action in North Carolina runs three years under N.C. Gen. Stat. 1-52(5), with accrual governed by 1-52(16), and a wrongful death action runs two years from the date of death under N.C. Gen. Stat. 1-53(4).
According to 49 U.S.C. 504(f), United States Code, as of September 2026.
The federal file is where I start. It is not where the case is won. We document the damages and negotiate the liens down and maximize the recovery for the client. The federal record is one input into that work. Everything that decides fault comes out of the crash itself. North Carolina makes that harder than most states because contributory negligence is common law here and fault on your part bars the claim unless last clear chance applies.
Where the federal record fits in a North Carolina truck case
Pulling the carrier's federal record is the first hour of a truck case. It tells you who you are dealing with. It tells the trucking company's insurer nothing new, because they pulled the same file the day of the crash.
If a commercial truck was involved in your crash, call 336-221-8900 or send me the details and I will talk with you about preserving the truck and commercial vehicle evidence before records or video disappear.
