CSA (Compliance, Safety, Accountability)
FMCSA's enforcement and compliance program that uses the Safety Measurement System to identify and prioritize high-risk motor carriers for intervention. CSA drives BASIC percentile scores, warning letters, and compliance reviews. CarrierOk provides all 7 BASIC percentiles, alert flags, and historical trend data via API.
Learn moreWhat is CSA?
Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) is the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's primary enforcement and compliance program, launched in 2010 to replace the previous SafeStat system. CSA uses the Safety Measurement System (SMS) to analyze inspection, crash, and investigation data and assign carriers BASIC percentile scores that identify the worst performers in each safety category. When a carrier's BASIC percentiles exceed intervention thresholds, FMCSA initiates a progressive enforcement sequence: warning letters, targeted investigations, cooperative safety plans, and ultimately compliance reviews that can result in unsatisfactory ratings and out-of-service orders. CSA's intervention thresholds vary by category — Unsafe Driving and HOS trigger at the 65th percentile, while other categories trigger at the 80th. The program has faced criticism for its peer-grouping methodology and the limited public availability of certain BASIC scores, but it remains the federal government's core framework for trucking safety enforcement. CarrierOk makes the complete CSA picture accessible via API — all 7 BASIC percentiles, alert statuses, underlying measures, inspection counts, and crash data — so that insurance, brokerage, and compliance teams can replicate FMCSA's risk lens.
Why does csa matter?
Insurance Underwriters
CSA data is the closest thing to a FICO score for trucking safety — carriers in FMCSA's intervention pipeline are statistically more likely to produce losses, and their scores should directly influence pricing and eligibility.
Freight Brokers
CSA compliance history tells you whether a carrier is operating under heightened FMCSA scrutiny — a carrier with active warning letters is more likely to face roadside delays or operational disruptions on your loads.
Developers & Platforms
The CSA framework maps directly to CarrierOk's basic_percentile_* and basic_alert_* fields — you can build FMCSA-equivalent risk tiers with a few threshold comparisons against API responses.
CSA in the CarrierOk API
This data is available via the /v2/profile endpoint. The following fields are returned in the carrier profile:
/v2/profilebasic_percentile_unsafe_drivingbasic_percentile_hours_of_servicebasic_percentile_vehicle_maintenancebasic_percentile_controlled_substancebasic_percentile_driver_fitnessbasic_percentile_hazardous_materialsbasic_percentile_crash_indicatorbasic_alert_unsafe_drivingbasic_alert_hours_of_servicebasic_alert_vehicle_maintenanceFrequently asked questions
What is CSA in trucking?
CSA stands for Compliance, Safety, Accountability — it is FMCSA's enforcement program that uses inspection, crash, and investigation data to identify and intervene with high-risk motor carriers. The program produces BASIC percentile scores across seven safety categories and triggers progressive enforcement actions when carriers exceed threshold scores. It replaced the older SafeStat system in 2010.
How does CSA affect trucking insurance rates?
CSA scores directly influence insurance pricing and eligibility. Most underwriters use BASIC percentiles as primary screening criteria — carriers with one or more BASICs above the 65th-75th percentile face higher premiums, reduced coverage options, or outright declination. Carriers with clean CSA profiles have significantly more competitive insurance markets. The correlation between CSA scores and claims frequency is well-documented.
What happens when a carrier fails CSA?
FMCSA uses a progressive intervention model. First, the carrier receives a warning letter identifying the elevated BASIC categories. If scores don't improve, FMCSA may conduct a targeted investigation or request a cooperative safety plan. The most severe outcome is a compliance review that can result in an unsatisfactory safety rating and an out-of-service order that shuts down the carrier's operations entirely.
Related terms
BASIC Percentile
A 0-100 peer-relative safety score across seven FMCSA categories: Unsafe Driving, HOS, Vehicle Maintenance, Controlled Substances, Driver Fitness, Hazmat, and Crash Indicator. Higher is worse. CarrierOk computes all 7 BASICs including the two FMCSA withholds from public view.
ISS Score (Inspection Selection System)
FMCSA's composite 1-100 algorithm for prioritizing carriers at roadside inspections. Higher scores mean higher inspection probability. The insurance industry widely uses ISS as a single-number risk indicator because it synthesizes multiple BASIC dimensions. CarrierOk serves ISS scores via the iss_value API field.
Safety Rating
A rating assigned by FMCSA after a compliance review: Satisfactory, Conditional, or Unsatisfactory. An Unsatisfactory rating can trigger an out-of-service order. However, most carriers have never been reviewed and carry no rating — absence of a rating does not indicate safety. CarrierOk includes safety rating status in carrier profiles.
SMS (Safety Measurement System)
FMCSA's quantitative system for measuring motor carrier safety performance using inspection, crash, and investigation data. SMS produces the BASIC percentile scores that underpin the CSA enforcement program. CarrierOk computes all 7 BASIC percentiles from SMS source data and updates more frequently than FMCSA's monthly cycle.
Start verifying carriers with the full data picture.
All 7 BASICs, ISS scores, 50+ fraud signals, and same-day monitoring alerts — from $149/mo for one user.