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CSA scores · DataQs

CSA Score Too High? Which Inspections You Can Challenge

Reviewed

Direct answer

You can challenge an inspection, violation or crash on your record through FMCSA's DataQs system when it is factually wrong, with the proof attached; the agency that wrote the report reviews it and can correct or remove it. The Safety Measurement System behind your CSA scores uses 24 months of inspections and crashes (FMCSA CSA), so every entry corrected and every clean inspection after it counts.

See every inspection on your record in plain words, with the rule behind each violation, so you know which ones are worth a challenge. Built from your USDOT number.

Free. Your USDOT number, nothing else. Built from FMCSA's public record of your inspections, violations and out-of-service orders.

What it means for your business

Your insurance
Underwriters read your inspection record and out-of-service history at renewal.
Your brokers
Brokers check the same public record before they tender a load.
Your audit
A high score in a category draws FMCSA's attention, and the investigator starts where the record points.
Your roadside
Inspectors use the record to choose which trucks to pull in.

What FileFlo does about it, today

  • FileFlo reads your FMCSA record from your USDOT number every day: your inspections, violations and out-of-service orders, each kept with its source and date.
  • The Radar on your USDOT: one email the day your public record changes, a new inspection with violations, an out-of-service order or a rating change.
  • After a roadside inspection with violations, FileFlo opens the 15-day repair certification item and keeps it open until the signed report is on file.
  • Every driver gets a qualification file in the order 391.51 lists it. Medical cards and CDLs are read, dated to their expiry and filed against the rule.
  • Connect your Motive ELD once and FileFlo reads your daily logs, hours-of-service violations and DVIRs every day, and flags a missing, uncertified or unexplained log before an inspector finds it.
  • In the FileFlo Compliance Department, FileFlo's compliance team does all of it for you: builds and keeps every driver file, chases every renewal, keeps the audit packet ready and answers the auditor's document requests.

FileFlo is your compliance department, so you never deal with the compliance headaches again. Buy it two ways.

Run it yourself: Audit-Ready Setup: $499. Then, unless you cancel, Core, $199 a month for up to 15 trucks, or Fleet, $399 a month for 16 to 50. What the Setup builds

Done for you: The FileFlo Compliance Department: $1,500 a month for up to 15 trucks, Setup included. The Compliance Department

The challenge, step by step

  1. Pull the inspection report and read each violation against the rule it cites.
  2. Find the error: wrong unit, wrong driver, wrong rule, or a document that was valid that day.
  3. Gather the proof: the dated record, the registration, the medical certificate, the photo.
  4. File the request in DataQs, attach the proof, and keep the request number.
  5. Watch your record for the change.

Stop the violations that are right

Most violations on a small carrier's record are paperwork on the day: a medical card, a log, an annual inspection. See what a failed roadside inspection costs and how an out-of-service order is lifted.

Sources

Checked Written by Chad Griffith

Questions

What is a DataQs challenge?

A request, filed in FMCSA's DataQs system, to review an inspection, violation or crash on your record that you believe is wrong. The agency that wrote the report reviews it and can correct or remove the entry. DataQs is for errors, not for violations you repaired afterward.

Which inspections can I challenge?

One with a factual error: the wrong truck or driver, a violation that does not match the rule cited, a document the inspector could not verify that was valid that day, or a crash you can show was not preventable under FMCSA's crash preventability program. Attach the proof: the record, the photo, the dated document.

How long does an inspection stay in my CSA scores?

The Safety Measurement System uses 24 months of inspection and crash data, with recent events weighted most (FMCSA CSA).

How do I lower my CSA score?

Correct what is wrong through DataQs, and stop the violations that are right from recurring: qualified drivers on the day, logs kept, trucks inspected and repaired. Clean inspections over time dilute the old ones.