Do brake fluid flush problems track brake violations per 100 truck roadside inspections across states?
Across U.S. states, NHTSA owner complaints about brake fluid flush run higher where brake violations per 100 truck roadside inspections is higher, after adjusting for the makes sold in each state. This is an association across states, not proof that brake violations per 100 truck roadside inspections causes this repair.
State reports of this repair against brake violations per 100 truck roadside inspections, one dot per stateEach dot is a state: how much more (or less) than expected this repair is reported there, adjusted for the makes sold in the state, against its brake violations per 100 truck roadside inspections
How to read it: Each dot is a state. Further right means more brake violations per 100 truck roadside inspections; higher up means more complaints for this repair than expected (1.0 is average). If the dots climb to the right, reports of this repair rise with brake violations per 100 truck roadside inspections.
What it shows: States with more brake violations per 100 truck roadside inspections tend to sit higher on the chart across 33 states: a pattern in the data, not proof of cause.
Data: FMCSA roadside inspections and violations, data.transportation.gov, joined to NHTSA owner complaints, downloaded 2026-10-06 · 33 states. Chart: CalcScrape · calcscrape.com
The 10 states with the most brake violations per 100 truck roadside inspections (Utah, Minnesota, Virginia, Texas, Idaho, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Arizona, Missouri, Colorado): reports of this repair run 23% above what the makes sold there would predict, and 10 of 10 are above expected. The 10 with the least (North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Maryland, Florida, New Jersey, Kansas, Tennessee, California, Illinois): 6% above, and 7 of 10 are above expected.
Exceptions: New Mexico (55% above expected) and Nevada (21% above expected) are among the lowest but above expected.
Split the states into thirds: the third with the least brake violations per 100 truck roadside inspections runs 5% above what the makes sold there would predict, the middle third 12% below, and the third with the most 24% above. Most of the brake violations per 100 truck roadside inspections effect sits in the third with the most.
For brake violations per 100 truck roadside inspections, after allowing for the 1562 comparisons we ran, luck alone would produce a pattern this strong about 1 time in 11. Take out any single state and the brake violations per 100 truck roadside inspections pattern still holds.
For brake violations per 100 truck roadside inspections, of the 3 exception states, 1 read the same way for the other parts of the system (so that is the system there, not this repair) and 2 are specific to this repair.
Roadside inspectors count brake violations on commercial trucks, a measured violation rate for brakes under heavy use.