Your DOT safety rating is public, and it follows you
A safety rating is FMCSA's verdict on whether your safety management works. It stays on your public record until FMCSA replaces it, so anyone deciding whether to hire you can look it up.
Written by Rigo Diaz
Safety ratings in numbers
A DOT safety rating is FMCSA's finding, after a compliance review, of whether your safety management controls meet the standard in 49 CFR 385.5. The ratings are Satisfactory, Conditional, and Unsatisfactory, and a carrier never rated is Unrated. An Unsatisfactory rating stops you from operating after 45 or 60 days unless you fix it.
Your safety rating is one of the few things about your company that the federal government grades and publishes. FMCSA rates only a small share of carriers each year, but a carrier that gets a rating can live with it for years, because a rating has no expiration date.
I spent more than six years in risk management before I founded Simplex, and I have led the company for more than 25 years since. I read a safety rating the way the market does: as a public signal of whether your controls work. Here is how that signal is made, what a bad one costs, and how to change it.
The full briefing, read aloud
8 chapters. Select one to jump to it.
Generated with AI text-to-speech from this article's key insights, in order, rather than reading it word for word. Chapter times come from a transcript of the audio. The article itself was written and reviewed by Rigo Diaz.
Key takeaways
Ratings come from compliance reviews
FMCSA rates carriers after a compliance review. The new entrant safety audit does not produce a safety rating.
A safety rating is not a CSA score
SMS percentiles help FMCSA pick carriers for investigation, but the rating itself comes from the review's findings under Appendix B to Part 385.
Unsatisfactory has a deadline
A proposed Unsatisfactory rating bars you from operating on day 46 (placarded hazmat, passengers) or day 61 (everyone else) unless you fix it.
Conditional keeps you running, in public
You can keep operating, but the rating shows on SAFER, and some shippers screen it out. Amazon Relay accepts only Satisfactory, None, or Not Rated.
Two ways to change a rating
Ask for an administrative review if FMCSA got it wrong, or request a rating change once you have corrected the deficiencies.
The system has not changed yet
As of September 2026, FMCSA's safety fitness rulemaking is still at the proposal stage, with a proposed rule listed for November 2026.
In this articleContents
What is a DOT safety rating?
A DOT safety rating is FMCSA's formal finding on whether your company has adequate safety management controls, meaning the systems, policies, and procedures that keep you compliant, to meet the safety fitness standard in 49 CFR 385.5. FMCSA rates motor carriers, never drivers.
Ratings come out of a compliance review: an in-depth look at your hours of service, driver qualification, maintenance and inspection, drug and alcohol testing, financial responsibility, and accident records. Not every investigation ends in a rating.
| Rating | What it means |
|---|---|
| Satisfactory | Adequate safety management controls are in place and working, appropriate for your size and type of operation |
| Conditional | Controls are not adequate, and that could lead to the violations and accidents the standard targets |
| Unsatisfactory | Controls are not adequate, and that has already resulted in those violations or accidents |
| Unrated | FMCSA has never assigned your company a rating |
Does the new entrant safety audit give you a rating?
No. Under 49 CFR 385.3, the safety audit a new carrier goes through during its 18-month monitoring period does not result in a safety rating. It checks your basic safety management controls; passing it does not make you Satisfactory. Our new entrant safety audit checklist covers that audit.
Is a safety rating the same as a DOT safety score?
No. What most people call a DOT safety score is a set of percentiles in FMCSA's Safety Measurement System (SMS), one for each of the seven BASICs. FMCSA uses them to pick carriers for warning letters and investigations, and it stated in 2023 that SMS is not used in any way to generate safety fitness determinations.
Your roadside record still matters. High percentiles can put you in line for an investigation, and your vehicle out-of-service rate feeds straight into the rating, as the next section shows. For how underwriters read the same data, see how CSA scores affect truck insurance.
How does FMCSA decide your safety rating?
FMCSA scores the compliance review with the methodology in Appendix B to Part 385. It looks for violations of specific regulations it labels acute or critical.
- Acute: noncompliance so severe it needs immediate correction, such as having no random drug and alcohol testing program, or operating without the required minimum insurance. Each instance costs one point.
- Critical: noncompliance that signals a breakdown in management controls, such as letting a driver drive more than 11 hours, or using a driver before a negative pre-employment drug test result. Each pattern costs one point.
A pattern means more than one violation, and at least 10 percent of the records examined. A pattern of critical hours-of-service violations costs two points.
Points are totaled within six factors. Zero points rates a factor Satisfactory, one point Conditional, and two or more Unsatisfactory.
- General: financial responsibility and general requirements (Parts 387 and 390)
- Driver: drug and alcohol testing, CDLs, and driver qualification (Parts 382, 383, and 391)
- Operational: driving rules and hours of service (Parts 392 and 395)
- Vehicle: parts, inspection, repair, and maintenance (Parts 393 and 396)
- Hazardous materials: Parts 397, 171, 177, and 180
- Accident: your recordable accident rate
Because a pattern of hours-of-service violations is worth two points, it can rate the Operational factor Unsatisfactory on its own.
How the vehicle and accident factors work
With three or more vehicle inspections in the 12 months before the review (counting any done at the review), a vehicle out-of-service rate of 34 percent or more starts the Vehicle factor at Conditional. Maintenance record violations can lower it from there.
The Accident factor counts only when you had two or more recordable accidents in those 12 months. A rate above 1.5 per million miles rates it Unsatisfactory, or above 1.7 for carriers operating entirely within 100 air miles.
From factors to the overall rating
| Factors rated Unsatisfactory | Factors rated Conditional | Overall rating |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 2 or fewer | Satisfactory |
| 0 | More than 2 | Conditional |
| 1 | 2 or fewer | Conditional |
| 1 | More than 2 | Unsatisfactory |
| 2 or more | Any number | Unsatisfactory |
What happens after a Conditional or Unsatisfactory rating?
FMCSA sends written notice of the rating within 30 days of the review, with a list of the deficiencies you must correct. A Satisfactory rating, or one that improves an Unsatisfactory, is final on the date of the notice. Anything else starts as a proposed rating.
A proposed rating becomes final 45 days after the notice for carriers of placarded hazardous materials or passengers, and 60 days after it for everyone else.
Unsatisfactory: a deadline to stop operating
A proposed Unsatisfactory rating is FMCSA's preliminary finding that you are unfit to operate. Unless you make the needed improvements in time, 49 CFR 385.13 applies:
- Placarded hazmat and passenger carriers may not operate a CMV from day 46 after the notice
- All other carriers may not operate from day 61, with up to 60 more days if FMCSA finds a good-faith effort to improve
- Once the rating is final, FMCSA issues an out-of-service order and, after notice, revokes your operating authority
- Federal agencies may not use a carrier rated Unsatisfactory
Conditional: still operating, publicly flagged
A Conditional rating does not stop you from operating. FMCSA itself noted in 2023 that a carrier with documented breakdowns in more than one area can receive only a Conditional rating and keep running.
The cost shows up in the market instead. Final ratings are public on FMCSA's SAFER Company Snapshot, and FMCSA notes that shippers may use them to decide which carriers to hire. Amazon Relay, for one, accepts only a rating of Satisfactory, None, or Not Rated, as our Amazon Relay requirements guide explains.
From a risk point of view, a Conditional rating is something you should expect to explain to a broker, a shipper, or an underwriter until you change it. The strongest explanation is documented corrective action.
How do you change a DOT safety rating?
There are two routes, and they answer different questions: was the rating wrong, or have you fixed the problems behind it?
| Route | Use it when | Deadline to file |
|---|---|---|
| Administrative review (385.15) | You believe FMCSA made a factual or procedural error | Within 90 days; within 15 days of a proposed Unsatisfactory to get a decision before the prohibition |
| Rating change (385.17) | You have corrected the deficiencies behind a Conditional or Unsatisfactory rating | Any time |
An administrative review request goes in writing to FMCSA's Adjudications Counsel. It must list every factual and procedural issue in dispute, with supporting documents.
A rating change request goes in writing to the FMCSA Service Center for the region of your principal place of business. It must describe the corrective actions you took and show that your operations meet the standard today. Our guide to building a corrective action plan covers what that evidence looks like.
For a proposed or final Unsatisfactory rating, FMCSA decides either request within 30 days for hazmat and passenger carriers and 45 days for everyone else.
If the problem is wrong inspection or crash data rather than the review itself, request a correction through FMCSA's DataQs system instead.
Is the DOT safety rating system changing?
Not yet. As of September 24, 2026, the rules in Part 385 and its Appendix B still use the three-tier system described above.
FMCSA is working on a change. In an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on August 29, 2023, it asked whether to keep the Satisfactory, Conditional, and Unsatisfactory tiers, and how to use inspection data to identify unfit carriers. An earlier 2016 proposal, which never became a rule, would have replaced the three tiers with a single Unfit determination.
Comments closed on November 29, 2023, and FMCSA has since held public listening sessions. The current Unified Agenda lists a proposed rule for November 2026. Until a final rule is published, your rating works the way this guide describes.
How Simplex helps you protect your safety rating
A rating reflects your controls on the day of the review. We help you keep them ready for that day, and fix what a review finds.
Compliance review support
Our audit guidance and support team helps you prepare for a compliance review and respond to what it finds.
The controls a review checks
Our DOT safety compliance services cover driver qualification files, drug and alcohol testing, and hours of service.
A program that keeps checking
Our compliance programs include CSA monitoring, mock audits, HOS management, and driver file management.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good DOT safety rating?+
How do I check a carrier's DOT safety rating?+
Can I keep operating with a Conditional safety rating?+
How long does a DOT safety rating last?+
How long do I have to appeal a proposed safety rating?+
Where this information comes from
The requirements below come from federal regulation, the Federal Register, and FMCSA's own systems, checked on September 24, 2026.
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1
eCFR — 49 CFR Part 385, Subpart A
Rating definitions, the safety fitness standard, notice periods, the Unsatisfactory prohibitions, and both review routes.
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2
eCFR — Appendix B to Part 385
Acute and critical violations, points, the six factors, and the rating table.
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3
FMCSA — Motor Carrier Safety Planner, 3.6 Safety Ratings
Ratings go to carriers, not drivers; not every investigation ends in a rating; shippers use public ratings.
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4
FMCSA — SAFER Company Snapshot
The free public record that shows a carrier's safety rating, if any.
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5
Federal Register — Safety Fitness Determinations ANPRM (88 FR 59489)
FMCSA's 2023 questions on the three-tier system, FY2019 review counts, and SMS's role.
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6
Reginfo.gov — Unified Agenda, RIN 2126-AC52
The rulemaking's timetable, with a proposed rule listed for November 2026.
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7
Amazon Relay — Frequently Asked Questions
Relay's minimum safety rating: Satisfactory, None, or Not Rated.
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8
FMCSA — DataQs
How to request a review of federal and state data you believe is incomplete or incorrect.
Written by
Rigo Diaz
Founder & CEO, Simplex Group
Founder and CEO of Simplex Group, with more than 25 years leading the company and helping trucking entrepreneurs navigate compliance, insurance, and the day-to-day demands of running a carrier. Before founding Simplex, he spent more than six years in risk management, experience that continues to shape how he approaches insurance, compliance, and carrier risk today.
Published · Updated
Related articles and services
Your rating is decided by the records you keep today
A compliance review looks at what your records show on the day it happens. The controls that earn a Satisfactory rating are the same ones that keep an Unsatisfactory deadline off your calendar.
If you want a second look at your controls before FMCSA takes one, or help responding to a rating, talk to our team.