As the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration explores possible changes to its electronic logging device regulations, truck owners with older engines who have so far avoided the mandate are speaking out against a potential change to the pre-2000 engine exemption.
In a notice published Sept. 16, the agency said it is considering changes to the ELD mandate regarding pre-2000 engines, how ELD malfunctions are addressed, and more.
Particularly notable for owner-operators in trucking are potential changes to the pre-2000 engine exemption. In its notice, FMCSA said “many vehicles with pre-2000 and most vehicles with rebuilt pre-2000 engines have engine control modules (ECMs) installed that could accommodate an ELD.” The agency then poses the question: Should FMCSA re-evaluate or modify the applicability of the current ELD regulation for rebuilt or remanufactured CMV engines or glider kits?
After just a little more than a week of comments, FMCSA has received nearly 700 on the notice, many of which pertain to glider kits and pre-2000 engines. The comment period remains open through Nov. 15.
[Related: FMCSA considering changing ELD regs around glider kits, pre-2000 engines, more]
Commenter Walter Gilmer noted he has a 1999 Caterpillar engine in his truck. “Yes, it has [an] ECM, but it's limited as to what it can do,” he noted. Another commenter, Michael Thompson, added that the ECM on pre-2000 engines “won’t support the data the ELD requires.” Thompson added that many owner-operators like older trucks not because they allow them “to cheat paper” logs, but “a lot of us do our own repairs” and the older trucks are “more reliable than new stuff.”
Jordan Sharp noted, “the viability of pre-2000 trucks to operate ELD is just not there.”
