The Out-of-Service (OOS) Rate is the percentage of roadside inspections that result in a vehicle or driver being placed out of service — meaning an inspector found a violation serious enough that the truck can't legally continue until it's fixed, or the driver can't continue until a condition is resolved (for example, exceeding hours-of-service limits). FMCSA and the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) publish national average OOS rates each year, separately for drivers and vehicles, and these averages are the benchmark carriers get compared against — a driver OOS rate of 3% against a national average of 5.5% means a carrier's drivers pass roadside inspections more often than their peers. A high OOS rate is one of the more visible, easy-to-understand red flags in a carrier's safety profile, because it reflects real, physically verified problems found during actual roadside stops, not a self-reported or modeled statistic. Vehicle OOS violations commonly involve brakes, tires, and lights; driver OOS violations commonly involve hours-of-service logs, licensing, and medical certification. Both rates are typically reported over a trailing 24-month window.
A carrier with an 18.9% vehicle OOS rate against a 20.7% national average is roughly in line with its peers — not a standout, but not a red flag either.
Shown as a stat, compared against the national average, in the Safety & Compliance section of every carrier profile.