What VioCodes is
VioCodes is a free, informational reference for FMCSA CSA violation codes, severity weights, BASIC categories, and related compliance topics. The dataset is built from public FMCSA sources — primarily the SMS Methodology Appendix A — plus community-submitted codes that are reviewed before publishing. Carrier data shown on the site is pulled from public FMCSA records. By using the site you accept these terms.
Not legal advice
Nothing on this site is legal advice, and using it doesn't create any attorney-client or consultant relationship. That applies double to the DataQs drafter: its output is an AI-generated starting point, not a finished filing. You are responsible for reviewing, correcting, and verifying every draft against your own records and the applicable regulations before submitting anything to FMCSA. If the stakes are high, talk to a qualified attorney or compliance professional.
No FMCSA affiliation
VioCodes is an independent project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the U.S. Department of Transportation, or any government agency. For official data and filings, always use the official FMCSA systems.
Accuracy and warranty
We work to keep the data accurate and current, but the site is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind — express or implied. Codes, severity weights, and methodology details can change when FMCSA updates its publications, and errors are possible. Always confirm anything consequential against the official source before acting on it. To the maximum extent permitted by law, VioCodes and its author are not liable for any loss arising from use of the site or reliance on its content.
Accounts and acceptable use
Accounts are free and optional. Don't abuse the service — no attempts to break authentication, no probing for vulnerabilities, and no using the tools to generate misleading or fraudulent filings. We may suspend or remove accounts that abuse the service, and you can have your account removed at any time on request (see the privacy policy).
No scraping or automated access
Access to VioCodes is for individual, interactive use through a normal web browser. As a condition of using the site, you agree not to:
- scrape, crawl, spider, harvest, index, or otherwise access the site or its API by automated means, or use any bot, script, headless browser, or data-mining tool against it;
- bulk-download, copy, or extract the site's content, carrier profiles, scores, analytics, or any substantial part of the compiled dataset;
- reproduce, republish, redistribute, sell, license, mirror, frame, or create derivative products from VioCodes content or data;
- circumvent, disable, or interfere with rate limiting, caching, authentication, or any other access-control or security measure;
- place an unreasonable load on the infrastructure, or access the service other than through interfaces we provide.
These restrictions apply to the VioCodes service and our compiled, organized, and derived content — not to the underlying public records themselves, which anyone can obtain directly from FMCSA. Automated access is permitted only where we grant it in writing, and only search engines honoring our robots.txt may index public pages. We may block, rate-limit, throttle, or take technical and legal action against any access that violates this section, and violation immediately terminates your right to use the site.
Intellectual property & reservation of rights
The raw FMCSA data underneath VioCodes is public and available from FMCSA. But the way VioCodes selects, compiles, organizes, scores, explains, and presents that data — including the violation playbooks, contest angles, DataQs track-record intelligence, carrier vetting signals, written copy, software, and design — is the original work of VioCodes and is protected by copyright and other laws. All rights not expressly granted are reserved. Nothing here grants you any license to our content or brand beyond ordinary personal, interactive use of the site.
Changes
The service and these terms may change over time. Material changes will be reflected in the “last updated” date above. Continuing to use the site after a change means you accept the updated terms.