Are Your Brake Tests Up To Scratch?

Are Your Brake Tests Up To Scratch?

The DVSA recommends hauliers get their vehicles brake tested a minimum of 4 times per year, not including a statutory test during annual MOT. But are you doing enough to ensure your brake tests not only meet the minimum requirement but go above and beyond?

Preventative maintenance inspection

If you don’t get a rolling brake test conducted during every inspection, it is still critical that the brakes are visually inspected, tested and recorded every inspection. If the maintenance provider is doing this anyway then it would make sense just to conduct a brake test every inspection, going above and beyond the minimum requirements.

Understanding the brake test report

A downfall of many operators is not fully understanding and reading the technical aspects of the brake test. Get to know how to understand them here.

Laden

A brake test that is not laden to at least 65% of the design axle weight should be rendered worthless. This is another common downfall of many operators. The assumption that brake test that has passed is sufficient when laden at less than 65% is incorrect.

Imbalance

Any brake imbalance above 30% needs investigating. A brake imbalance happens when the amount of force produced by each brake is uneven. There could be many reasons for this but the most likely reason could be uneven wear.

In conclusion

Brake testing is a fundamental part of having a workable maintenance process. The DVSA consider this to be the minimum standard and so it should be for any operator.

Martin Fryer

Martin Fryer is Managing Director of a specialist haulage company as well as a qualified transport manager with experience across multiple different industries. He holds a BA (Hons) in Logistics and is a chartered member of the Institute of Logistics and Transport.

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