FMCSA Moves Ahead With Speed Limiter Rule for Heavy Trucks

In May 2022, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) said it would move ahead on its own with a rule requiring speed limiters on heavy trucks. In a notice of intent published in the Federal Register on May 4, 2022, under docket FMCSA-2022-0004, the agency asked for public comment and data to help it write a supplemental proposal.

What FMCSA planned to propose

FMCSA said its supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM) would propose that motor carriers operating commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce with a gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight of 26,001 pounds (11,794 kilograms) or more, whichever is greater, and equipped with an electronic engine control unit (ECU) able to govern maximum speed, be required to:

• limit the vehicle to a speed to be set in the rulemaking; and
• keep that ECU setting for the service life of the vehicle.

The notice did not name a speed or include proposed regulatory text. FMCSA said it was considering applying the rule only to vehicles built after a certain date, such as 2003, since ECUs had been routinely installed in that population of trucks. It was also weighing whether a retrofit requirement would be needed.

How it got here

The idea dated back to a joint proposal by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and FMCSA published on September 7, 2016. Under that plan, NHTSA would have required new vehicles over 26,000 pounds to be equipped with a speed limiting device set to a maximum speed, and FMCSA would have required interstate carriers to maintain those devices for the life of the vehicle.

FMCSA noted that the fall 2021 Unified Agenda listed both agencies' speed limiter rules as long-term actions. With this notice, FMCSA said it intended to proceed with a separate rulemaking aimed at motor carriers. Placing the requirement on carriers, it said, would help ensure compliance and could avoid confusion over who was responsible. FMCSA said it would keep consulting NHTSA.

The 2016 proposal had stated that information NHTSA analyzed showed ECUs had been installed in most heavy trucks since 1999, though some manufacturers were still installing mechanical controls through 2003. FMCSA said the likely way to comply would be to use the ECU to govern speed rather than to install a mechanical device.

What the agency asked

FMCSA posed a dozen questions, including:

• what share of the truck fleet already used speed limiting devices, and at what maximum speeds they were generally set;
• what skills, training, tools and equipment were needed to adjust or reprogram ECUs, how long it took, and whether it could be done where the vehicle was normally garaged or would require a dealership;
• whether the answers changed with the power unit's model year;
• how technology had changed since the 2016 proposal;
• whether a carrier-based rule without an NHTSA safety standard update would create problems;
• whether 2003 should remain the model-year baseline and whether a retrofit requirement should be included; and
• whether Class 3 to 6 vehicles (10,001 to 26,001 pounds) should be included in the supplemental proposal.

Comment deadline extended

Comments were initially due June 3, 2022. On May 27, 2022, FMCSA extended the deadline to July 18, 2022, after the American Trucking Associations and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association requested more time.

Archive: this article describes rules and events as of May 2022. Regulations may have changed since, so check the current rule before relying on it.