FMCSA hears the Voice of Truckers, Makes Changes to EOBRs
Posted on Thu, Sep 23, 2010 @ 10:39 AM
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced it has amended the standards for electronic on-board recorders (EOBRs) that requires all motor carriers with major hours of service violations to install EOBRs in their vehicles. The amendment will go into effect on June 4, 2012 and is attributed to the combined efforts of petitions from tech groups Qualcomm Inc., and XATA Corp., as well as a group of industry stakeholders that includes the American Trucking Associations' Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC).
The petitions arose out of two separate issues. The first involved the temperature range that the new EOBRs must be able to withstand, and the second from the connector type required for the USB interface.
The FMCSA responded to these concerns by issuing a statement that said:
It is not the Agency's intention to require an EOBR to be so rugged that it is operable at extreme temperatures that will not realistically be seen in a truck's normal operating environment. As noted earlier, the Agency believes that drivers will be heating or cooling the cab to more reasonable temperatures prior to driving.
Because the cab temperature can be controlled and kept at a relatively constant temperature, the operating temperature range should not be an issue. The petition’s other issue however, is a legitimate concern. The FMCSA standard requires that all EOBRs use a "Type B" USB connector. However, most EOBRs already use a Type A connection. This Type B requirement would bring about an unnecessary additional cost to many carriers. The petition calls for the Agency (FMCSA) to use of Type A connections instead.
Separately, the XATA group has voiced some additional concerns. They want the FMCSA to clarify certain reportable events in the diagnostic table and to consider offering an additional alternative for the data transfer between an EOBR and a roadside safety official's portable computer.
The FMCSA responded to the issue of the USB connection with this statement:
FMCSA amends Appendix A, Paragraph 2.2, to delete the requirement for a Type B connector, and replaces it with a requirement for a Type A connector. Although the Type B connector has sometimes been used to connect portable and handheld computing devices to printers, the Type A connector is much more appropriate for a computer-to-computer (or EOBR-to-computer) communications interface.
The FMCSA changed the EOBR standards in order to make the new rule more adaptable for carriers. Along with the change to the connection policy, the FMCSA also eliminated the operating temperature requirement. With these issues resolved, the amendment is expected to stay on track and become effective in 2012.