CIVIL PROSECUTORS AND TRIAL ATTORNEYS: THE TRUCK REMEMBERS, BUT NOT FOR LONG
Every semi on I-70, I-35, and I-435 carries a record of how it was driven. The engine's computer can log speed and braking. The electronic logging device tracks the driver's hours. The trucking company keeps dispatch messages, inspection reports, and drug and alcohol test results. After a crash, those records can show who broke the rules. They can also disappear, some through ordinary use of the truck and some because the company's legal duty to keep them simply runs out. At Sanders.Law, our Civil Prosecutors and trial attorneys work to get that evidence preserved early, because holding a trucking company accountable starts with the truth about what its truck and its driver were doing.
Call (816) 457-6006. Calls are answered 24/7, and consultations are free and confidential.
The short answer
Federal rules require a motor carrier to keep each driver's hours-of-service records and supporting documents for at least 6 months.[1] Other trucking records have their own clocks, from 3 months for daily vehicle inspection reports[2] to 3 years for the carrier's register of reportable crashes.[3] No federal rule requires a heavy truck to carry a standardized crash data recorder,[4][5] and the event data an engine computer does keep can be written over.[4] That is why the first weeks after a semi crash matter so much.
What a truck's "black box" really is
A big rig doesn't have one black box like an airliner. When people say "black box" about a semi, they usually mean the engine control module, or ECM: the computer that runs the engine and, depending on the make and how it is set up, also saves some driving data. The federal event data recorder rule, 49 CFR Part 563, covers only vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of 8,500 pounds or less.[5] The NTSB has noted that no federal regulation requires event data recorders on trucks and buses heavier than that.[4]
What an ECM saves depends on the engine. In one NTSB investigation, a Cummins engine module saved hard-brake records, a last-stop record, and diagnostic records.[4] In another, investigators read vehicle speed, engine speed, engine load, brake, clutch, throttle, and cruise control data from a Detroit Diesel engine module.[6]
Why engine data is fragile
The NTSB's description of that Cummins module shows how little room there can be:[4]
- Only two hard-brake events. The module kept the two most recent hard-brake records, each holding 1 minute before the trigger and 15 seconds after it.[4]
- A trigger the owner can change. A hard-brake record started when the truck slowed faster than a preset rate, 7 mph per second by default, and the owner could change that setting.[4]
- Moving the truck matters. The last-stop record was written when the truck stopped and then written over once the wheels reached 1.5 mph again.[4]
- New faults push out old ones. Diagnostic records followed the last three active fault codes, and new faults wrote over old ones.[4]
Even saved data has to be checked. In a 2014 investigation, the NTSB found that an engine module's clock, which the operator set by hand, ran 2 hours, 59 minutes, and 27 seconds fast. The module also kept time in Eastern time, so investigators subtracted a total of 3 hours, 59 minutes, and 27 seconds before its events could be lined up with the rest of the evidence. The same report explains that the module figured vehicle speed from a sensor at the transmission, so the reading may not match the truck's real motion when wheels spin or skid.[6] One of the two hard-brake events that module had saved had nothing to do with the crash.[6]
So the download should be done carefully, by people who keep the original data file and write down every step, and the truck should stay as it was until then. Driving the rig back into service, clearing codes, or swapping parts before anyone looks can cost a family the clearest witness it had.
What the ELD records, and what it doesn't
Since December 18, 2017, motor carriers have had to require drivers who keep hours-of-service logs to use an electronic logging device, or ELD.[1] A carrier may still allow paper logs for a driver who needs logs on no more than 8 days in any 30-day period, for certain driveaway-towaway trips, and for a truck built before model year 2000.[1]
Under federal rules, an ELD automatically records the date, the time, the truck's location, engine hours, vehicle miles, and identifying data for the driver, the truck, and the motor carrier. It records them at each change of duty status and at least once an hour while the truck is moving.[7] When a driver marks a stretch as personal use, the ELD records location only roughly, within about a 10-mile radius.[7]
An ELD is a timekeeper, not a crash recorder. Speed, steering, and braking aren't on the federal list of data an ELD must record.[7] The ELD does use the engine's speed signal to tell when the truck is moving, but it doesn't have to keep that speed as a data point.[8] That is why ELD records should be read alongside the engine data, GPS and fleet tracking, dispatch messages, and receipts. Federal rules require the carrier to keep supporting documents for that very purpose, including bills of lading, dispatch and trip records, expense receipts, electronic messages from fleet management systems, and payroll or settlement records.[9]
Not every truck driver keeps a log. A driver who stays within 150 air miles of the normal work reporting location and meets the other short-haul conditions can skip the log, but the carrier must keep accurate time records for that driver for 6 months.[10] The records to ask for depend on the kind of run the truck was making.
Log cheating is a live safety issue in 2026
During this year's three-day International Roadcheck, inspectors across North America focused on ELD tampering, falsification, and manipulation. They issued 146 out-of-service orders for ELD tampering, 3.7% of driver out-of-service violations, making it the seventh most-cited driver out-of-service violation in North America.[11] In the U.S., hours-of-service violations were the second most common driver out-of-service violation, at 883, and false records of duty status ranked fifth, at 214.[11]
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance put the danger plainly: hiding actual driving time raises the risk of severe highway crashes due to driver fatigue.[11] Hours rules exist because a worn-out driver at the wheel of a loaded semi puts every family on the road at risk. A company that looks the other way on false logs isn't making a paperwork mistake. It is making a choice about our community's safety.
How long trucking companies must keep the records
These are federal minimums. A company may keep records longer, and once it is on notice of a claim it may have a separate duty to keep them. All periods below come from Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations as published on eCFR, checked Oct 23, 2026.
| Record | Federal minimum |
|---|---|
| Hours-of-service records (ELD or paper logs) and supporting documents | At least 6 months from the date the carrier receives them[1] |
| Backup copy of ELD records | 6 months, on a device separate from the original data[12] |
| Time records for short-haul drivers who don't keep logs | 6 months[10] |
| Driver vehicle inspection reports and repair certifications | 3 months from the date of the report[2] |
| Inspection, repair, and maintenance records for each truck | 1 year, and 6 months after the truck leaves the carrier's control[13] |
| Driver qualification file | As long as the driver works for the carrier, plus 3 years[14] |
| Register of reportable crashes | 3 years after the date of each crash[3] |
| Alcohol results of 0.02 or higher, verified positive drug tests, and test refusals | At least 5 years[15] |
| Negative drug tests and alcohol results below 0.02 | At least 1 year[15] |
Read that table the way a trucking company's lawyer would. About six months after a crash, the federal rule may no longer require the company to keep much of the hour-by-hour proof of how a driver spent the week. About three months after a crash, the daily inspection reports can be gone.
The testing clock starts at the scene
For drivers who need a commercial driver's license,[16] federal rules require the trucking company to test its surviving driver for alcohol and drugs after a crash that kills someone. Testing is also required when the driver gets a citation for a moving violation arising from the crash (within 8 hours for the alcohol test, or 32 hours for the drug test) and someone is hurt and treated away from the scene, or a vehicle has to be towed away.[17]
The windows are short. If the alcohol test isn't given within 2 hours, the company must keep a record of why, and after 8 hours it must stop trying. For drugs, it must stop trying after 32 hours and keep a record of why the test wasn't given promptly.[17] A missing test, and the reason written down for it, can say a lot about how a company handles safety.
Years to file, but months, days, or minutes to save the evidence
Many Missouri personal injury claims must be filed within five years,[18] and Missouri wrongful death claims within three.[19] In Kansas, many personal injury and wrongful death claims must be filed within two years.[20] Those deadlines are technical, and exceptions can shorten or extend them, so call us early about your own. This is general information, not legal advice.
The evidence keeps a much faster clock than the courthouse. Engine data can be written over the next time the truck moves. Inspection reports can be gone in 3 months and logs in 6. Waiting until the doctor visits are done can mean the case gets built without the strongest proof.
What a preservation letter does
A preservation letter, sometimes called a spoliation letter, gives the trucking company written notice to keep specific evidence. A good one names the truck and trailer and asks the company to keep the truck as it is, with the engine module untouched until it can be downloaded properly. It also lists the electronic and paper records: ELD and GPS data, the backup ELD copy, dashcam video, dispatch and driver messages, inspection and maintenance files, the driver qualification file, and the post-crash test records.
The letter also creates a dated record of what the company was told. If evidence goes missing after that, a court can take that into account. Federal rules separately require a carrier to make its crash records available to authorized federal and state safety officials when asked,[3] but that duty runs to safety investigators. An injured family usually gets the records through its own claim.
What you and your family can do
- Get medical care first, and tell every provider about the crash, even if you feel all right. Some injuries, like a concussion, can cause symptoms that don't appear for hours or days.[21]
- When it is safe, take pictures of the truck, the trailer, and the company name and numbers painted on the cab door and trailer.
- Write down who saw the crash, how to reach them, and which police agency came.
- Keep copies of the crash report, medical records, photos, and any letters from insurance companies.
- You generally don't have to give the trucking company's insurer a recorded statement, and it is wise to talk with a lawyer first. Cooperating with police, and with your own insurer as your policy requires, is different.
- Call Sanders.Law at (816) 457-6006 as soon as you can, so a preservation letter can go out while the records still exist.
A large truck at the heavy end of the range can weigh 20 to 30 times as much as a passenger car.[22] Most people killed in large truck crashes were riding in passenger vehicles, the IIHS reports.[22] Holding the company responsible is how we work to keep the next family on the road safe.
Semi-truck wrecks · Tractor-trailer and 18-wheeler wrecks · Hours-of-service rules · Mild traumatic brain injury
Video: Steve Sanders on federal truck safety rules
In this video (1 minute, 15 seconds), Steve Sanders explains why 18-wheeler crashes are different and how the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations hold truck drivers and trucking companies to higher standards.
Steve Sanders on Federal Truck Safety Rules (1:15). Watch it on its own page.
Transcript: Steve Sanders on Federal Truck Safety Rules
[background music plays throughout]
Steve Sanders: 18-wheeler crashes are different from regular auto crashes. An 18-wheeler can carry up to 80,000 pounds, 40 tons, while driving 70 or even 80 miles an hour down the highway. The injuries and damages 18-wheelers cause, compared to other vehicle wrecks, are catastrophic. Your life should not have to feel like it's on borrowed time because of the recklessness of some truck driver. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations hold drivers to higher standards. These standards mean that the driver of the 18-wheeler or the corporation he or she works for is often the party responsible for the wreck. Frequently, at Sanders.Law, we find violations of federal rules, regulations, and safety procedures. If the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations hold 18-wheelers to higher standards, our job at Sanders.Law is to make those standards work for you.
[music]
A note on one number in the video: 80,000 pounds is the usual federal maximum gross weight on Interstate highways for the whole loaded truck - tractor, trailer, and cargo together - not the cargo alone. The bridge formula can set a lower limit, and some older state laws and permits allow more.[23]
When Steve says "we find violations," he means what Sanders.Law attorneys often find when they review truck crash cases. Every case is different, and not every case involves a violation of federal rules.
Frequently asked questions
Do semi trucks have a black box?
Not in the airliner sense. Most people mean the engine control module, or ECM, which runs the engine and may save limited driving data, such as speed and braking around a hard-brake event or the last stop. No federal rule requires heavy trucks to carry a standardized event data recorder.[4][5]
Can a trucking company throw out ELD logs after 6 months?
Six months is the federal floor. A motor carrier must keep each driver's records of duty status and supporting documents for at least 6 months from the date it receives them,[1] plus a 6-month backup copy of ELD records on a separate device.[12] After that, the federal rule no longer requires the company to keep them, so a preservation letter should reach the company well before then.
Can black box data be lost after a truck crash?
Yes. Engine modules have limited memory. In one NTSB report, the module kept only the two most recent hard-brake records, and its last-stop record was written over once the truck moved again at 1.5 mph.[4] Repairs and returning the truck to service add risk, which is why a preservation letter should go out quickly.
Does an ELD record how fast the truck was going?
Speed isn't on the federal list. An ELD must record the date, time, location, engine hours, vehicle miles, and driver, truck, and carrier identification, at each duty status change and at least hourly while the truck is moving.[7] Speed usually comes from the engine module, GPS, or fleet tracking data.
What records should be preserved after a semi crash?
Usually the truck and its engine module, ELD and GPS data and the ELD backup, dashcam video, dispatch messages and supporting documents, inspection and maintenance records, the driver qualification file, and the post-crash alcohol and drug test records. Federal rules require some of them to be kept for as little as 3 months.[2]
How soon should I call a lawyer after a truck crash?
As soon as you have gotten medical care. Filing deadlines run for years, but the evidence clock is much shorter: driver inspection reports only have to be kept for 3 months[2] and hours-of-service records for 6.[1]
Talk with a Kansas City trial attorney
If a semi crash changed your life or cost you someone you love, call (816) 457-6006. Let us help you obtain justice, not only for your family, but for the sake of our community. Calls are answered 24/7, and consultations are free and confidential.
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Related
Sources
- eCFR, Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, § 395.8(a)(1) and (k) (eCFR text current through Oct 21, 2026). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/section-395.8 (checked Oct 23, 2026)
- eCFR, Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, § 396.11(a)(4) (eCFR text current through Oct 21, 2026). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/section-396.11 (checked Oct 23, 2026)
- eCFR, Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, § 390.15 (eCFR text current through Oct 21, 2026). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/section-390.15 (checked Oct 23, 2026)
- National Transportation Safety Board, "Vehicle Recorders Factual Report," HWY18MH007 (May 17, 2018), sections 3.1 and 3.2. https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40484578&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=Vehicle%20Recorders%20Factual%20Report-Master.PDF (checked Oct 23, 2026)
- eCFR, Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, § 563.3 (eCFR text current through Oct 21, 2026). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/section-563.3 (checked Oct 23, 2026)
- National Transportation Safety Board, "ECM Factual Report" (titled "ECM Specialist's Factual Report" in the docket), HWY14FH002 (Jan. 9, 2015), sections 2.2.1 to 2.2.3. https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40421592&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=ECM%20Specialist%27s%20Factual%20Report-Master.PDF (checked Oct 23, 2026)
- eCFR, Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, § 395.26(b) to (d) (eCFR text current through Oct 21, 2026). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/section-395.26 (checked Oct 23, 2026)
- eCFR, Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 395, Subpart B, Appendix A, sections 4.2 and 4.3.1.2 (eCFR text current through Oct 21, 2026). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/part-395/appendix-Appendix%20A%20to%20Subpart%20B%20of%20Part%20395 (checked Oct 23, 2026)
- eCFR, Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, § 395.11(c) (eCFR text current through Oct 21, 2026). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/section-395.11 (checked Oct 23, 2026)
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- Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, "CVSA Releases 2026 International Roadcheck Results" (Aug. 25, 2026). https://cvsa.org/news/2026-roadcheck-results/ (checked Oct 23, 2026)
- eCFR, Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, § 395.22(i)(1) (eCFR text current through Oct 21, 2026). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/section-395.22 (checked Oct 23, 2026)
- eCFR, Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, § 396.3(b) and (c) (eCFR text current through Oct 21, 2026). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/section-396.3 (checked Oct 23, 2026)
- eCFR, Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, § 391.51(c) (eCFR text current through Oct 21, 2026). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/section-391.51 (checked Oct 23, 2026)
- eCFR, Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, § 382.401(b) (eCFR text current through Oct 21, 2026). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/section-382.401 (checked Oct 23, 2026)
- eCFR, Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, § 382.103(a) (eCFR text current through Oct 21, 2026). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/section-382.103 (checked Oct 23, 2026)
- eCFR, Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, § 382.303(a), (b), and (d) (eCFR text current through Oct 21, 2026). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/section-382.303 (checked Oct 23, 2026)
- RSMo 516.120(4) (five years). https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=516.120 (checked Oct 23, 2026)
- RSMo 537.100 (three years for wrongful death). https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=537.100 (checked Oct 22, 2026)
- K.S.A. 60-513(a)(4) and (a)(5) (two years). https://www.ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch60/060_005_0013.html (checked Oct 23, 2026)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), "Symptoms of Mild TBI and Concussion" (Sept. 15, 2025). https://www.cdc.gov/traumatic-brain-injury/signs-symptoms/index.html (checked Oct 23, 2026)
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- eCFR, Title 23, Code of Federal Regulations, § 658.17(b), (h), and (i) (eCFR text current through Oct 21, 2026). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-23/section-658.17 (checked Oct 23, 2026)