CSA Scores Explained: How ELD Data Affects Your Rating
Rules, prices and device details on this page were checked October 2026 against the official sources listed at the bottom. Where a provider doesn't publish a number, we say so instead of guessing.
Your CSA scores shape how often FMCSA looks at you, how brokers and shippers see you and sometimes what you pay for insurance. They're built from roadside inspections, crash reports and investigation results. Hours of service violations feed straight into one of the most important categories, which makes your ELD data a big part of the picture. Here's how the system works today and what you can do to improve your numbers.
What CSA Is
CSA stands for Compliance, Safety, Accountability. It's FMCSA's program for finding carriers with safety problems and stepping in before crashes happen. The measuring tool behind it is the Safety Measurement System (SMS). SMS takes your inspection, violation and crash data from the past 24 months and turns it into percentile rankings that compare you with similar carriers.
A few key points:
- Higher percentiles are worse. A percentile of 80 means you scored worse than 80% of similar carriers.
- Recent events count more. Violations from the past six months get the most weight, and anything older than 24 months drops off.
- More serious violations count more. Each violation has a severity weight.
- SMS percentiles aren't a safety rating. Your official safety rating (satisfactory, conditional or unsatisfactory) only comes from an investigation.
FMCSA has approved changes to the SMS methodology and lets carriers preview how they'd score under the new approach. As of our October 2026 check, the current SMS (Version 3.21) is still the live system, and the changes aren't in effect yet. You can see your modeled results on FMCSA's Prioritization Preview site.
BASICs
SMS groups violations into seven categories called BASICs. Each has an intervention threshold. When your percentile is above it, FMCSA may prioritize you for action such as a warning letter or an investigation. The thresholds are lower for the categories most closely linked to crashes, and lower again for passenger and hazmat carriers.
| BASIC | General | Hazmat | Passenger |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unsafe Driving | 65% | 60% | 50% |
| Crash Indicator | 65% | 60% | 50% |
| HOS Compliance | 65% | 60% | 50% |
| Vehicle Maintenance | 80% | 75% | 65% |
| Controlled Substances/Alcohol | 80% | 75% | 65% |
| Driver Fitness | 80% | 75% | 65% |
| HM Compliance | 80% | 80% | 80% |
Source: FMCSA SMS Methodology, Version 3.21, June 2026. The Crash Indicator and HM Compliance BASICs aren't shown to the public, though carriers can see their own results when logged in.
HOS Violations
The HOS Compliance BASIC covers violations of the hours of service rules and logging requirements. That includes things like:
- Driving past the 11 hour limit or the 14 hour window.
- Going over the 60 or 70 hour limit.
- Missing the required 30 minute break.
- Not having a record of duty status, or having a false log.
- Not having an ELD when one is required, or not using it correctly.
- Not being able to show or transfer logs at roadside.
Because the HOS Compliance threshold is set at 65% for most carriers, a few violations can push a small fleet over the line, especially when it has few inspections to balance them. For what each violation can cost in fines, see our guide to ELD violations and fines.
How ELDs help
An ELD doesn't automatically keep you clean, but it removes many of the easy mistakes. Form and manner errors, math errors and missing logs are much less common with an ELD. Drivers see their available hours in real time, so they're less likely to run over by accident. And fleet managers can spot patterns, such as a driver who regularly ends shifts close to the limit, before they turn into violations.
The flip side is that ELD data is precise. If a driver runs over by even a few minutes, the record shows it. Use your ELD's alerts and reports to catch problems early.
Improving Scores
- Get clean inspections. Inspections with no violations improve your measures over time. Well maintained trucks and organized drivers pass more often.
- Train drivers on the ELD. Make sure every driver can show and transfer logs at roadside without fumbling. Keep the instruction card, malfunction sheet and blank paper logs in the cab.
- Watch your ELD alerts. Set alerts for drivers getting close to their limits and follow up on every violation.
- Fix unassigned driving. Review unassigned driving events and assign or annotate them promptly.
- Keep up with maintenance. Vehicle Maintenance violations are common. Pre trip inspections and a good preventive schedule help a lot.
- Challenge wrong data. If a violation or crash is recorded wrongly, file a request for data review through DataQs.
- Be patient. Because of time weighting, improvements show up gradually as older violations lose weight and eventually drop off after 24 months.
Why Small Fleets Feel It More
SMS compares carriers in groups based on how many inspections or crashes they have, so small fleets are measured against other small fleets. But with fewer inspections, each violation carries more weight in your measure. One bad roadside stop can move a five truck carrier a long way, while the same violation barely changes the score of a carrier with thousands of inspections. On the other hand, a few clean inspections also help a small fleet more.
That's why small carriers benefit so much from simple habits: a pre trip inspection every day, logs that are always current and a driver who knows how to hand an inspector the ELD transfer in under a minute.
Who Looks at Your Scores
FMCSA uses SMS to decide who gets warning letters and investigations. But others look too. Brokers and shippers often check public BASICs before they give you freight, and insurers may consider them at renewal. Even when a score doesn't trigger any action by FMCSA, it can still affect your business, so it's worth keeping an eye on every BASIC, not only the ones over a threshold.
If you're a new carrier, you may not have enough inspections to get a percentile in some BASICs at all. That's normal. Focus on keeping every early inspection clean, because those first results shape how you look for the next two years.
Keep in mind that every carrier starts somewhere, and steady habits matter more than any single inspection.
Checking Your Scores
You can see your public SMS results on FMCSA's SMS website using your USDOT number. Log in with your FMCSA portal account to see everything, including the nonpublic BASICs and inspection details. SMS results are updated monthly. Check them at least once a month, and look at the detail behind any BASIC that's climbing.
Keep your records in order too. If FMCSA does investigate, your ELD logs, supporting documents and driver files will be reviewed. Our guide to hours of service covers the rules your logs have to meet.
Rules and data checked October 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good CSA score?
Lower is better. For most property carriers, the intervention threshold is 65% for Unsafe Driving, Crash Indicator and HOS Compliance, and 80% for the other BASICs.
How long do violations stay on CSA?
SMS uses the past 24 months of data. Recent violations carry more weight than older ones.
Is my CSA score the same as my safety rating?
No. SMS percentiles are a prioritization tool. An official safety rating comes only from an FMCSA investigation.
Has FMCSA changed the SMS methodology?
FMCSA has approved changes and offers a Prioritization Preview, but as of October 2026 the current SMS Version 3.21 is still in use.
Sources
All prices, terms and registration details were checked October 2026 on the pages below. Providers change pricing often, so confirm before you buy.