People often ask for a “CSA score.” FMCSA does not issue one overall score for a carrier. Its Safety Measurement System (SMS) calculates a separate percentile for each Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category (BASIC) when enough comparable data exists. FMCSA uses the percentiles to prioritize carriers for intervention. A company selling one combined score uses its own method; FMCSA does not generate or endorse it. Public SMS pages for property carriers do not show BASIC percentiles.

Start by identifying the right USDOT entity in HaulFacts lookup. Then open the official SMS results for its safety-event data and the SAFER Company Snapshot for any assigned safety rating and its date.

What a BASIC percentile measures

SMS organizes inspection, crash, and investigation information into seven BASICs: Unsafe Driving, Crash Indicator, Hours-of-Service Compliance, Vehicle Maintenance, Controlled Substances/Alcohol, Hazardous Materials Compliance, and Driver Fitness. FMCSA updates SMS monthly. Its on-road performance view uses a 24-month record, with recent events weighted more heavily in the measure behind a percentile.

A percentile ranks a carrier within a comparison group for one BASIC. FMCSA groups carriers with similar numbers of relevant safety events. On its 0 to 100 scale, a higher percentile means worse relative performance in that category. A Vehicle Maintenance percentile compares maintenance measures; it is not a violation rate. Averaging it with an Hours-of-Service percentile would not produce an FMCSA score. You also cannot calculate a withheld percentile from one carrier’s inspection counts because the comparison group matters.

As of September 23, 2026, FMCSA’s SMS notice says the FAST Act keeps property-carrier percentiles and intervention alerts out of public view. Public pages still show inspection and crash data, investigation results, and measures for the public BASICs. A measure comes from the carrier’s safety data; it is neither a percentile nor an OOS rate. Crash Indicator and Hazardous Materials Compliance BASICs remain hidden from the public.

A property carrier can log in to see its own complete SMS results. Passenger-carrier percentiles and alerts remain public for the BASICs available to public viewers. A blank public percentile for a property carrier follows the display rule; it says nothing about whether the carrier had safety events. Even a logged-in carrier may have no percentile for a BASIC when it lacks enough comparable data.

Read one result without turning it into a verdict

Consider a fictional property carrier checked on September 23, 2026. These are invented values, not a real carrier record. The SMS page labels its data as a 24-month record ending August 28, 2026. The carrier also reviews its own logged-in profile. The two readers would keep these fields separate:

Source and fieldHypothetical displayWhat it means
Public SMS Vehicle Maintenance BASICMeasure: 3.58; no public percentileRecord the measure, period, and underlying events. The absent public percentile is expected for a property carrier.
Carrier’s own logged-in SMS profileVehicle Maintenance: 72nd percentileAn illustrative relative rank in that BASIC, visible to the carrier; retain its source and date if the carrier shares it.
Public SAFER vehicle OOS summary1 of 10 vehicle inspections; 10%A separate rate with its own count, category, period, and Snapshot date.
Public SAFER safety ratingNo rating shownRecord the absence of an assigned rating and the checked date.

The 72nd percentile describes the carrier’s rank in a comparison group, not the share of its inspections with maintenance violations. The measure of 3.58 is not a percentage either, and an outside reviewer cannot derive the withheld percentile from it. The 10% vehicle out-of-service rate is a different calculation: one vehicle inspection with an out-of-service finding divided by ten vehicle inspections in the displayed Snapshot period. SMS data and OOS rates do not supply a Satisfactory rating when SAFER shows none. Look at the inspection history behind a BASIC before summarizing a pattern.

Keep the official safety rating separate

An FMCSA safety rating is a formal fitness determination made through a compliance review. Its possible assigned ratings are Satisfactory, Conditional, and Unsatisfactory. SMS percentiles can change with monthly data. An assigned rating has its own review process and effective date. A carrier may have a Satisfactory rating and still have a BASIC prioritized for intervention. A carrier with no assigned rating may still have safety events.

Check the safety rating guide for the rating’s meaning and any final Unsatisfactory restriction. A visible SMS intervention symbol means FMCSA may prioritize the carrier for monitoring or action. The symbol is not a federal safety rating. Its absence from a public property-carrier page follows the display rule and says nothing about whether FMCSA has prioritized that carrier. Those SMS fields alone cannot settle a shipment decision.

Make a dated review record

  1. Confirm the legal entity and USDOT number before opening SMS and SAFER.
  2. For a property carrier, record the public SMS page URL, the 24-month record end date, your retrieval date, and each relevant public BASIC measure or display status exactly as shown. Do not back-calculate a withheld percentile.
  3. Open the relevant BASIC detail and note the recent inspections, violation types, and counts that explain the question you need to ask. Use crash records for the separate crash-involvement context.
  4. Record the SAFER safety rating and effective date, if shown, and keep any OOS counts and rates in a separate field. If you are the carrier reviewing your own logged-in SMS results, record each available percentile, the data period, and any intervention symbol separately. If a carrier shares a result with you, label it as carrier-supplied and preserve its date rather than presenting it as an independently visible public result.
  5. If a source record appears wrong, retain the original observation and direct the responsible party to FMCSA’s DataQs review process. Apply your documented review policy to the evidence. FMCSA publishes intervention thresholds for individual BASICs, but no single overall “good CSA score” cutoff.

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