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FMCSA does not publish a "good" CSA score, and there is no single score to grade. The Safety Measurement System (SMS) gives each carrier a separate percentile from 0 to 100 in each BASIC, and higher is worse. The only line FMCSA draws is the intervention threshold. As of October 2026, for most trucking fleets that is 65% in Unsafe Driving, Crash Indicator and Hours-of-Service Compliance, and 80% in the other BASICs.
So the practical answer is: a good result is a percentile well below the threshold for your carrier type, or no percentile at all, with no alert symbol. For what each of the seven categories covers, see CSA BASICs explained.
Why FMCSA has no "good" CSA score
The CSA score range is 0 to 100 in each BASIC, but that number is a ranking against your peers, not a grade. FMCSA's CSA Measure page says the SMS "groups carriers by BASIC with other carriers that have a similar number of safety events and then ranks carriers and assigns a percentile." The SMS Methodology (version 3.21, June 2026) computes it "on a 0-100 scale for each carrier that receives a non-zero measure, with 100 indicating the worst performance" (p. 2-7).
Three things follow from that design:
- Each BASIC stands alone. You may sit at 20% in one BASIC and 70% in another. Averaging them means nothing.
- Your number moves on its own. The SMS updates once a month. Violations from the past 6 months weigh three times as much as those 12 to 24 months old, and "Safety events older than 24 months are no longer used" (pp. 2-5, 3-11). Your peers' data changes too. Our guide on how to improve a CSA score walks through the math.
- FMCSA warns against reading it as a safety verdict. Its SMS website says: "Readers should not draw conclusions about a carrier's overall safety condition simply based on the data displayed in this system."
The methodology defines only one cut-off: a carrier "with a percentile that is at or above the Intervention Threshold" in a BASIC gets an alert symbol there (p. 3-5).
CSA score thresholds by BASIC and carrier type
These are the intervention thresholds in Table 2-2 of the SMS Methodology v3.21, current as of October 2026. A percentile below your column's number is under the line; at or above it, FMCSA may prioritize you.
| BASIC | General carrier (most trucking fleets) | Hazmat (HM) carrier | Passenger carrier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unsafe Driving | 65% | 60% | 50% |
| Crash Indicator | 65% | 60% | 50% |
| Hours-of-Service (HOS) Compliance | 65% | 60% | 50% |
| Vehicle Maintenance | 80% | 75% | 65% |
| Controlled Substances/Alcohol | 80% | 75% | 65% |
| Driver Fitness | 80% | 75% | 65% |
| HM Compliance | 80% | 80% | 80% |
FMCSA explains the gap between rows: its analysis found that Unsafe Driving, Crash Indicator and HOS Compliance "have the strongest associations to crash risk," so they get lower thresholds. Passenger and HM carriers get lower thresholds "because when they are involved in crashes the consequences are often greater" (p. 2-8).
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Which threshold column applies to your fleet
The general column applies to most carriers. You move to a stricter column only if you meet one of the definitions in Tables 2-3 and 2-4 of the methodology:
| You are held to… | If your fleet meets this definition (SMS Methodology, p. 2-9) |
|---|---|
| HM thresholds | All three: at least 2 HM placardable vehicle inspections in the past 24 months, at least 1 in the past 12 months, and at least 5% of your vehicle inspections are HM placardable. Or: you hold a Hazardous Materials Safety Permit. |
| Passenger thresholds | Active passenger authority and at least 2% of power units seat 9 or more passengers; or for-hire operation with that 2% (or no power units registered and "passengers" listed as cargo); or private passenger operation with at least 2% of power units seating 16 or more. |
| General thresholds | Everyone else. |
What each result on your SMS screen means
This decision table is built from the SMS Methodology and FMCSA's CSA pages.
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| No percentile in a BASIC | You don't meet the data minimum, you have no non-zero measure, or (in most BASICs) no recent violations. In HOS Compliance, for example, carriers with fewer than three relevant driver inspections are removed (p. 3-12). | Usually a good result. Keep the inspections clean. |
| Percentile well under your threshold | Fewer weighted violations, per unit of exposure, than most carriers in your peer group. | Watch the trend each month; one bad inspection weighs most in its first 6 months. |
| Percentile close to the threshold | One or two violations could put you over. | Check every inspection for errors and file DataQs requests where the data is wrong. |
| Percentile at or above the threshold (alert symbol) | FMCSA "may prioritize" you for interventions, from warning letters to investigations (CSA: Intervene). | Find the violations driving the BASIC and fix the control behind them. |
| Symbol without a high percentile | An Acute or Critical violation found in an investigation within the past 12 months (p. 2-7). | Close out the corrective action from that investigation. |
| 100% in Unsafe Driving | A measure of 250 or more is removed from ranking and assigned 100 (p. 3-5, note 16). Often a data error. | Check the inspection records first. |
A percentile of 0 means the lowest measure in your group, since percentiles run "from 0 (representing the lowest BASIC measure)" (p. 3-5). It does not mean no violations; a carrier with a zero measure gets no percentile at all.
Who can see your CSA percentiles
For property carriers, the public sees inspection and crash data, investigation results and the measures for the public BASICs, but not the percentiles. FMCSA's SMS website says the FAST Act of 2015 took that information off public display, that the Crash Indicator and HM Compliance BASICs "remain hidden from public view," and that "All information on passenger carriers remains available to the public." You log in to see your own complete results. Whether insurers use them is covered in does CSA score affect insurance.
Is a high CSA percentile the same as a bad safety rating?
No. FMCSA's SMS site says the alert symbol "is not intended to imply any federal safety rating" and that, unless a carrier has an Unsatisfactory rating or an order to stop, "it is authorized to operate." A rating comes only from an investigation under 49 CFR Part 385. Our conditional safety rating guide explains how that works.
Is the CSA scoring changing?
Not yet. Here is the status as of October 22, 2026:
- Proposed: FMCSA proposed a revised SMS on February 15, 2023 (88 FR 9954).
- Final design announced, not launched: a November 20, 2024 notice (89 FR 91874) confirmed the changes, including renaming BASICs "Compliance Categories," "Proportionate Percentiles Instead of Safety Event Groups" and "Improved Intervention Thresholds." It said "A follow-up notice in the Federal Register will announce the launch date." A Federal Register search on October 22, 2026 found no such notice. It is a notice about FMCSA's methodology, not a rule.
- What the thresholds would become: under the design FMCSA previewed (Foundational Document, v1.5), Driver Fitness would move from 80% to 90% for general carriers (65% to 75% for passenger, 75% to 85% for HM), and HM Compliance from 80% to 90% for all carriers. The other thresholds would stay as they are.
The 2024 notice also says percentiles would be calculated only for carriers with violations in the past 12 months in several categories. Until the launch notice appears, the seven BASICs and the thresholds in the table above apply.
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This article is general information, not legal advice. Confirm requirements against the current regulation text and with your compliance counsel.
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