When researching a trucking company, you'll encounter multiple "safety scores" from different sources. The FMCSA issues official safety ratings, the CSA program produces SMS percentiles, and sites like CarrierRecord assign letter grades. Here's how they differ and what each one means.
What Is an FMCSA Safety Rating?
The FMCSA safety rating is an official assessment issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration after a comprehensive on-site review called a Compliance Review (CR) or Compliance Investigation. It evaluates whether a carrier has adequate safety management controls in place.
Unlike CSA scores (which are calculated automatically from inspection data), the safety rating requires a physical visit to the carrier's facility by an FMCSA investigator. As a result, most carriers have never received an official safety rating.
The Three FMCSA Safety Ratings
| Rating | Meaning | Consequence |
|---|---|---|
| Satisfactory | The carrier has adequate safety management controls in place to meet safety fitness standards | No action required. This is the best rating. |
| Conditional | The carrier does not meet one or more safety fitness standards but is not an imminent hazard | The carrier must take corrective action. May face increased enforcement scrutiny. |
| Unsatisfactory | The carrier does not have adequate safety management controls and poses a safety risk | The carrier may be prohibited from operating. Interstate carriers with an Unsatisfactory rating must cease operations within 45-60 days unless the rating is upgraded. |
Why Most Carriers Don't Have a Safety Rating
The FMCSA has over 4 million registered carriers but limited investigative resources. Only a fraction of carriers receive on-site compliance reviews. Priority goes to carriers that:
- Have high CSA SMS percentiles (indicating safety problems)
- Transport passengers or hazardous materials
- Have been involved in serious crashes
- Have received complaints
A carrier without a safety rating has simply not been investigated — it does not mean they are safe or unsafe.
Safety Rating vs. CSA Score vs. CarrierRecord Grade
| System | Who Issues It | Based On | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| FMCSA Safety Rating | FMCSA investigators | On-site compliance review | Small fraction of carriers |
| CSA SMS Percentiles | FMCSA (automated) | Inspection and crash data, per BASIC category | Carriers with sufficient inspection data |
| CarrierRecord Grade | CarrierRecord | OOS rates, crash rate per power unit, fatal crash penalty | All carriers with inspection data |
The key difference: the FMCSA safety rating is a one-time assessment that may be years old, while CSA percentiles and CarrierRecord grades are recalculated using the most recent 24 months of data.
How to Find a Carrier's Safety Rating
The FMCSA's SAFER system (safer.fmcsa.dot.gov) shows official safety ratings when available. You can search by USDOT number or company name.
On CarrierRecord, every carrier profile links directly to their FMCSA SAFER snapshot. Our letter grades provide a current safety assessment for every carrier with inspection data, including the many carriers that have never received an official FMCSA safety rating.
Look Up Any Carrier's Safety Record
Search by name or DOT number to see inspections, crashes, and a current safety grade.
Understanding CarrierRecord's A-F Grading System
CarrierRecord assigns every carrier with inspection data a letter grade from A (excellent) to F (poor), based on a 0-100 point scale where lower scores are better:
- Vehicle OOS rate — up to 30 points (compared to the 23.2% national average)
- Driver OOS rate — up to 20 points (compared to the 6.4% national average)
- Crash rate per power unit — up to 30 points
- Fatal crash penalty — up to 20 points (10 per fatal crash)
See the full methodology page for details on scoring thresholds and grade boundaries.
Related Reading
- What Is a CSA Score? — Deep dive into the FMCSA's 7 BASIC categories and SMS percentiles
- What Does Out-of-Service Mean? — How OOS violations factor into safety ratings and grades
- FMCSA Inspection Levels Explained — What happens at each roadside inspection level
- How to Check a Trucking Company's Safety Record — Step-by-step lookup guide