Updated vetting halts nearly 500 ELD entrants into market, Leathers says
Keiron Greenhalgh
Capacity constraints in the truckload segment of the freight market are set to continue to tighten, according to Werner Enterprises CEO Derek Leathers, because of an under-the-radar federal enforcement initiative — the renewed purge of noncompliant electronic logging devices.
As a result, the upswing in the freight market is set to continue following the longest downturn in industry memory.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration deemed at least 56 ELD models noncompliant so far in 2026, data show. The agency blacklisted at least 32 ELDs in 2025. Each total is substantially higher than previous years.
FMCSA is blackballing use of those noncompliant devices to limit drivers’ and carriers’ ability to evade hours-of-service regulations and compromise safety standards. Federal regulators are pursuing this initiative alongside efforts to clamp down on unqualified drivers and inadequate driver training programs.
“Seldom does industry ask for regulation, but in this case, they need to be certifying these electronic logging devices. You’re going to see a lot more capacity that’s only able to operate today because of its ability to manipulate its hours,” Leathers told the Deutsche Bank Chicago Industrials Summit on Aug. 11.
“The reason the market was so saturated was that 10 trucks were able to behave like 15,” said Leathers. “And so, as you take those 10 trucks out, you’re really taking the equivalent capacity of 15 trucks out because you can’t operate with these extra hours and reset your logs on a daily basis.”
Federal regulations require motor carriers to use ELDs to automatically generate drivers’ record-of-duty status under hours-of-service rules, which limit drivers to 11 hours of driving time after 10 consecutive hours off duty, along with other restrictions.
Noncompliant ELDs can enable evasion of the regulations.
The FMCSA in December 2025 overhauled the vetting process for ELDs.
“They’ve stopped 400, nearly 500 at this point, new entrants into the marketplace because the ELDs didn’t pass the basic kind of sniff test of certification and they were too easily able to be edited or manipulated,” Leathers told attendees of the investor conference.
Doing so, said the executive, was effectively taking capacity out of the market alongside federal initiatives on non-domiciled commercial driver licenses and driving schools.
But industry observers expect further withdrawals, with more than 1,000 self-certified ELD providers registered in the United States. In Canada, where self-certification is not allowed, less than a dozen ELD providers dominate the market.
In November 2025, American Trucking Associations and the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance called for third-party certification of ELDs to stymie illegal falsification of logbook data.
ATA in October 2025 updated its safety policy to support third-party certification of ELDs and oversight of auditing and monitoring of devices.
And ELD tampering is becoming more common as a result of the increase in noncompliant ELDs.
CVSA targeted ELD falsification and tampering during its annual International Roadcheck in May. Falsification of record-of-duty status was the second-most-cited driver violation in the 2025 edition of the 37-step inspections.
Most interstate carriers have been required to use a compliant ELD since December 2019, when FMCSA’s ELD rule took full effect.
Carriers are receiving 60 days to replace equipment that does not comply with safety standards or they face out-of-service orders.
