CSA scores and truck insurance: how they connect

What CSA and the SMS measure

CSA (Compliance, Safety, Accountability) is FMCSA's safety enforcement program. Its scoring engine is the Safety Measurement System, or SMS.

The SMS uses roadside inspection results and crash reports from the last two years, plus findings from investigations, to rank carriers against each other. FMCSA refreshes the results once a month.

Today the SMS sorts your record into seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories. Each one covers a different kind of risk.

How the scoring math works

FMCSA's SMS Methodology document (version 3.21, revised June 2026) explains the formula. Each violation carries a severity weight from 1 to 10 based on its link to crash risk.

Out-of-service violations add 2 more points in the hours-of-service, maintenance, hazmat, and driver fitness categories. One inspection can add no more than 30 severity points to a single category.

Time matters too. Violations from the last six months count three times. Violations 6 to 12 months old count twice.

Anything 12 to 24 months old counts once, and older events drop off. For categories based on inspections, the weighted violations are divided by your weighted inspection count. That means clean inspections help you, because they grow the denominator.

Your result becomes a percentile against carriers with similar exposure. A higher percentile is worse. When you cross an intervention threshold, FMCSA flags you for a possible warning letter, investigation, or audit.

The SMS overhaul and where it stands

FMCSA proposed a rework of the SMS in February 2023 and announced the approved changes in a Federal Register notice on November 20, 2024. That notice said a later notice would set the launch date.

FMCSA's methodology document from June 2026 still uses the seven categories above, so the old system is what scores you now. Check the CSA website before you rely on either version.

Here is what the revised system changes once it goes live:

• The seven categories become Compliance Categories.
• Controlled substance and alcohol violations, plus operating while out of service, move into Unsafe Driving.
• Vehicle Maintenance splits in two, adding Vehicle Maintenance: Driver Observed for defects a driver should catch on a pre-trip.
• Severity weights shrink from a 1 to 10 scale to a weight of 1 or 2.
• Several categories only get a percentile if you have a violation in the past 12 months.
• Driver Fitness is split between straight truck and combination carriers.

How underwriters read your safety record

Since the FAST Act, FMCSA keeps property carriers' percentiles and alerts off the public SMS site. The inspection and violation details behind them stay visible, and many underwriters pull that history when they quote. CSA results are one of the rating factors a licensed Texas agent will ask about, along with loss runs, MVRs, and years in business.

An underwriter reading your file tends to focus on these points:

• Out-of-service rates for drivers and vehicles compared with national averages
• Patterns, such as repeat brake or lighting violations on the same unit
• Hours-of-service violations on long runs up I-45 or across I-10
• Reportable crashes and whether any were judged not preventable
• Whether your inspection count is high enough to mean anything. A new authority with two inspections tells an underwriter very little.

How inspections land on your record

Texas DPS troopers and commercial vehicle inspectors run roadside inspections at weigh stations, ports of entry, and traffic stops. Border crossings like Pharr-Reynosa and Ysleta-Zaragoza see heavy inspection volume. Each inspection report goes to FMCSA under the USDOT number on the truck, even when it finds no violations.

That last part matters. A clean Level 1 or Level 2 inspection adds to your inspection count and lowers your measure in the inspection-based categories. Some carriers treat every clean inspection as a small win, and they are right to.

Watch the USDOT number on the door. If you lease onto another carrier, inspections land on their number. If you run under your own authority with an old number still on the truck, violations can land in the wrong place.

Violations that hurt small carriers most

One- and two-truck operations feel every violation, because they have so few inspections to dilute them. These are the problems that show up again and again on small Texas carriers:

• Lights and reflectors. Cheap to fix, easy for an inspector to spot, and they pile up in Vehicle Maintenance.
• Brakes out of adjustment. Often an out-of-service violation, which adds weight.
• Tires with low tread or damage, especially on trailers that sit between loads.
• Logbook form and manner errors, or ELD records that do not match fuel receipts.
• Expired medical certificates or a driver not listed on the DQ file.

Cleaning up your record with DataQs

DataQs is FMCSA's system for challenging federal and state data you believe is wrong or incomplete. Carriers, drivers, and their representatives can file. Crash disputes go through the Crash Preventability Determination Program as a Request for Data Review.

Here is how it works, in order:

1. 1. Pull your carrier record and inspection reports. Log in to see the categories that the public cannot.
2. 2. Flag real errors: wrong USDOT number, a violation the inspection notes do not support, a citation dismissed or reduced in court, or a duplicate entry.
3. 3. Gather proof. Court dispositions, repair orders, ELD records, or photos.
4. 4. File the request in DataQs with a short, factual explanation.
5. 5. Track the request and respond to any follow-up questions.

A monthly routine that protects your record

Set a reminder to check your SMS results each month after FMCSA's update. Look for new inspections you cannot match to a trip and for violations listed on the wrong unit. Catching an error early makes a DataQs request easier, because the inspection notes and your own records are still fresh.

Turning a rough record into a better quote

DataQs only fixes bad data. Real violations stay until they age out. The fix for those is a working safety program: pre-trip inspections, a maintenance schedule, clean logs, and drivers who keep their medical cards current.

When you request a quote, tell the agent about corrective steps you have taken. A written maintenance program or a new ELD provider gives the underwriter something concrete to weigh against an old violation.