What 173.315(n) means in plain language
173.315(n) falls under the Department of Transportation's hazardous materials regulations. This rule addresses specific requirements for how certain hazardous materials must be prepared, packaged, marked, and offered for transport. The regulation ensures that hazmat shipments meet strict packaging standards before they ever leave a facility or get loaded onto your vehicle.
If you've been cited for this code, an inspector found that either the hazmat package itself didn't meet DOT standards, or there was a discrepancy between what was documented and what was physically present. This could involve labeling, packaging integrity, or how the shipment was prepared for transport.
The key point: this citation targets the condition of the hazmat before it reaches your truck. As a driver, your responsibility is to verify that what you're being asked to load matches the documentation and that the package is in proper condition.
What our enforcement data actually shows
Across our 13 million+ inspection records, 173.315(n) appears only once in our all-time database. In the last 12 months, we've recorded zero citations. In the last 90 days, zero citations. This makes 173.315(n) one of the least-cited hazmat codes—ranking #2796 out of 3,036 FMCSR codes by citation volume.
That single citation was not placed out of service, resulting in a 0.0% out-of-service rate for this code. For context, the average FMCSR code carries a 31.4% out-of-service rate. The fact that this violation exists in our records at all suggests it's either a very specific scenario or caught so rarely that most carriers never encounter it.
The rarity of this citation in roadside enforcement data suggests that either the violation is uncommon in practice, or it's caught and corrected earlier in the supply chain before vehicles are inspected.
Who gets cited most
Our records show only one carrier cited for 173.315(n): Suntech Group Inc (USDOT 659646), with a single citation. Because this code appears so infrequently, no clear regional or carrier pattern emerges from the data.
Vehicles cited included a Freightliner and a Stoughton trailer, but again, a sample size of one citation provides no meaningful trend to guide prevention efforts.
How severe is this compared to similar codes
When we look at other hazmat packaging and placarding violations in the same category, the severity landscape shifts dramatically:
177.834A-HMC (general loading/unloading hazmat) has 3,954 citations with a 99.2% out-of-service rate—nearly 4,000 times more frequent than 173.315(n), and almost guaranteed to result in a roadside OOS.
177.817(a) (placarding violation) shows 2,274 citations with a 75.1% OOS rate—again, vastly more common and more severe.
172.602(c)(1) (maintenance/accessibility of emergency response information) has 1,464 citations but a 0.0% OOS rate, matching 173.315(n)'s OOS profile but appearing far more frequently in enforcement.
The contrast is stark: 173.315(n) is exceptionally rare, while related hazmat violations are among the most-cited and most-enforced codes on the road.
How to avoid it
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Inspect packages before loading. Before you accept any hazmat shipment, visually confirm that all labels, placards, and markings are present, legible, and match the shipping papers. If something looks wrong, don't load it—contact your dispatcher or the shipper immediately.
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Match documentation to cargo. Cross-check the bill of lading or hazmat manifest against what's physically in front of you. Verify the commodity name, hazard class, UN number, and quantity all align. Discrepancies are red flags.
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Check packaging integrity. Look for dents, tears, leaks, or signs of damage on the package itself before it goes on your vehicle. Damaged hazmat packaging can trigger citations even if the damage occurred before you arrived.
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Know your vehicle's placard and label requirements. Familiarize yourself with which hazmat commodities you're authorized to transport in your specific vehicle configuration. Mismatches between cargo and vehicle placard requirements create compliance gaps.
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Document your pre-trip hazmat check. If your carrier requires it, note on your pre-trip inspection form that you verified hazmat package condition and documentation accuracy. This creates a record that you took due diligence.