Quick answer
ELD and hours of service violations can put a driver out of service, raise a carrier’s Hours-of-Service Compliance BASIC under CSA, and lead to civil penalties. As of October 2026, FMCSA’s maximum recordkeeping penalty is $1,584 per day up to $15,846, knowing falsification is up to $15,846, and other carrier violations are up to $19,246 each. Driving without a required ELD means 10 hours out of service.
Three kinds of consequences
An ELD or hours of service violation can cost you in three separate ways, and they stack:
- Out of service at roadside. The truck stops until the driver has enough off-duty time or the problem is fixed. A broker holding a load does not care why it is late.
- Your safety record. Roadside violations go into FMCSA's Safety Measurement System and can draw warning letters, investigations, or audits.
- Civil penalties. Fines assessed through an FMCSA enforcement case, usually after an investigation or compliance review.
Common ELD and HOS violations
| Violation | Rule |
|---|---|
| No record of duty status when one is required, including no ELD | 395.8(a)(1) |
| False report of duty status | 395.8(e)(1) |
| Tampering with or disabling an ELD | 395.8(e)(2) |
| No record for the previous 7 days in the driver's possession | 395.8(k)(2) |
| Driving beyond the 11-hour limit | 395.3(a)(3)(i) |
| Driving after the 14-hour window | 395.3(a)(2) |
| No 30-minute break after 8 hours of driving | 395.3(a)(3)(ii) |
| Driving after 60 or 70 hours on duty | 395.3(b) |
| Using an ELD not on FMCSA's registered list | 395.22(a) |
| Missing in-cab ELD information packet items | 395.22(h) |
| Failing to transfer ELD records on request | 395.24(d) |
| Unidentified driving not reviewed or assigned | 395.32 |
| Not following malfunction procedures | 395.34 |
Most of these trace back to a few habits: not logging in, editing instead of annotating, using personal conveyance for business moves, and running past the 14-hour window after a long wait at a shipper. Our hours of service guide covers the limits in detail.
Out-of-service orders
Officers use the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance's North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria to decide when a driver must stop. In general terms, a driver who has exceeded the driving limits is placed out of service until enough off-duty time is accumulated to drive legally again. A driver with no required log, or a log that appears false, can also be placed out of service.
For missing ELDs, FMCSA's ELD FAQ is specific: the driver is cited and placed out of service for 10 hours (8 for passenger carriers). After that the driver may finish the current trip on paper logs, and may be placed out of service again if dispatched on a new trip without a compliant ELD. The CVSA criteria are revised periodically, so confirm current details with CVSA.
CSA and the Hours-of-Service Compliance BASIC
Roadside violations feed FMCSA's Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program. The Safety Measurement System groups them into categories called BASICs. Hours of service and ELD violations land in the Hours-of-Service Compliance BASIC. Each violation carries a severity weight, more recent violations count more, and your measure is compared with carriers that have a similar number of inspections. A carrier whose percentile rises above FMCSA's intervention threshold can get a warning letter, an investigation, or a compliance review.
For a small carrier with few inspections, one or two bad inspections can move the numbers a lot. That matters for brokers and shippers who look at your safety data, and for insurers at renewal.
Civil penalty amounts
FMCSA's maximum civil penalties are in 49 CFR Part 386, Appendix B and are adjusted for inflation. The figures below are the ones in Appendix B as of October 2026, which reflect FMCSA's most recent inflation adjustment, published December 30, 2024.
| Violation type | Maximum penalty |
|---|---|
| Recordkeeping: failing to prepare or keep a required record, or an incomplete, inaccurate, or false one | $1,584 per day the violation continues, up to $15,846 |
| Knowing falsification, destruction, or alteration of a required record | $15,846 |
| Non-recordkeeping violations by a carrier, such as permitting driving over the limits | $19,246 per violation |
| Non-recordkeeping violations by a driver | $4,812 |
Appendix B also defines an egregious driving-time violation: exceeding the driving-time limit by more than 3 hours. For a driver who does it, or a carrier that requires or permits it, FMCSA treats the violation as serious enough to justify penalties up to the maximum the law allows.
These are maximums. Actual amounts depend on the facts, including the carrier's history and ability to pay. States set their own fines for citations written at roadside, which are separate from FMCSA's civil penalties.
Falsification is the expensive one
An honest log that shows a violation is a problem. A dishonest log is a bigger one. Falsification can carry the knowing-falsification penalty, gets treated seriously in out-of-service decisions, and suggests to an investigator that other records may be wrong too. Disabling or tampering with an ELD is prohibited outright, and so is a carrier pressuring a driver to do it. Supporting documents such as fuel receipts, bills of lading, and dispatch records are how investigators check logs against reality, which is why carriers must keep them for 6 months. See our ELD mandate page for the supporting document rules.
Staying out of trouble
- Log in before the truck moves, every time.
- Annotate unusual entries the same day.
- Review unassigned driving at login and assign it the same week.
- Keep the three in-cab items described on our cab card guide.
- Practice sending logs once before you need to. Our DOT inspection guide walks through it.
DocuDrive is an FMCSA-registered ELD at $20 per truck per month, no contract. Get started.
Sources
- 49 CFR Part 386, Appendix B, Penalty schedule
- 49 CFR 395.3, Maximum driving time for property-carrying vehicles
- 49 CFR 395.8, Driver's record of duty status
- 49 CFR 395.22, Motor carrier responsibilities (registered ELD, in-vehicle information)
- 49 CFR 395.24, Driver responsibilities
- 49 CFR 395.32, Non-authenticated driver logs (unidentified driving)
- 49 CFR 395.34, ELD malfunctions and data diagnostic events
- FMCSA ELD FAQs, General (information packet in electronic form; no ELD at roadside)
- FMCSA bulletin, Aug. 6, 2026: FMCSA Removes Five Devices from List of Registered ELDs
- Federal Register, 89 FR 106282 (Dec. 30, 2024): DOT Revisions to Civil Penalty Amounts, 2025
- FMCSA, CSA Safety Measurement System
- CVSA, North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Rules change; check the source before you rely on a figure.