Carrier profile · USDOT 410856 · Updated Jun 13, 2026

Northwestern Corporation

DBA NORTHWESTERN ENERGY

841 power unitsavg 10 yrLocal · 1 statesBUTTE, MT100/100
AUTHORITY STATUS UNKNOWN
Verified linksnorthwestern.comFMCSA SAFER

Safety

Roadside out-of-service rates versus the national benchmark, inspection and crash trends, decoded violation themes, and ELD / hours-of-service integrity — the full safety picture behind the verdict.

Out-of-service rate· 24-mo cumulative · vs national

Vehicle OOS 17.8%24-mo cumulative
050%nat'l 22.26%
Driver OOS 5.5%24-mo cumulative
030%nat'l 6.67%

Every inspection in the window pooled — 45 vehicle and 55 driver inspections over 24 months.

Vehicle OOS rate· vehicle OOS · vehicle-level inspections · 6-month trailing

45.5% · latest 6-mo window▲ Rising

Share of vehicle-level roadside inspections in each trailing six-month window that resulted in a vehicle out-of-service order. Trending up 12.4 pts across the window. The national vehicle benchmark uses the same metric and is shown on the chart.

Roadside inspection history· 24 charted calendar months · vehicle / driver level · any-OOS overlay

54 inspections in the charted months · busiest month Dec '25 · 8

Vehicle-levelDriver-levelAny OOS

Monthly FMCSA roadside inspections across the 24 charted calendar months. Bars show level-qualified vehicle and driver populations; one inspection can qualify for both. The line shows inspections with any out-of-service result.

Inspection coverage· expected vs observed · the fraud signal

Inspection coverage

How heavily FMCSA inspects this fleet for its size — it tells you how much to trust the safety signals above. Thin coverage on a young authority is a fraud signal nobody else surfaces.

Thin coverage
Under-inspected
Expected
Well-monitored
Heavily inspected
≈0.0 / unit·yr
thin signalabundant signal
Few roadside inspections for a 841-unit fleet — the out-of-service and violation signals above rest on a small sample, so weight them cautiously. Thin coverage on a young authority is itself a flag.
Registered power units
841
Inspections · 24 mo
55
Annualized
≈28 / yr
Coverage
≈0.0 inspections / unit · yr

BASIC categories· CSA SMS · Aug 2026

Unsafe Driving
0violations
clean · per-BASIC
Hours-of-Service
0violations
clean · per-BASIC
80%
Driver Fitness
Vektor peer est.
Controlled Substances
0violations
clean · per-BASIC
20%
Vehicle Maintenance
Vektor peer est.

Percentile = standing among same-exposure peers (higher = worse). FMCSA publishes percentiles for only some carriers (shown official); elsewhere we show a Vektor peer-percentile estimate, or the absolute SMS measure when there are too few inspections to rank.

Violation themes· decoded · grouped by BASIC

What this carrier actually gets cited for — FMCSA violation codes decoded into plain English, ranked by frequency.

  • 392.2 State/local traffic law violation (speeding, etc.)Unsafe Driving9 · 0 OOS
  • 393.95 Emergency equipment (extinguisher, triangles)Vehicle Maintenance6 · 0 OOS
  • 396.17 Periodic (annual) inspectionVehicle Maintenance4 · 0 OOS
  • 383.23 Operating without a valid CDLDriver Fitness3 · 3 OOS
  • 393.9 Inoperative required lampsVehicle Maintenance3 · 0 OOS
  • 393.11 Required lamps/reflectors missingVehicle Maintenance3 · 1 OOS
  • 393.45 Brake tubing / hose defectsVehicle Maintenance2 · 1 OOS
  • 393.43 Parts & accessories (vehicle condition)Vehicle Maintenance2 · 2 OOS
  • 393.75 Tires (defective / underinflated / worn)Vehicle Maintenance1 · 1 OOS
  • 393.78 Windshield wipersVehicle Maintenance1 · 0 OOS

ELD & hours-of-service

1 hours-of-service / ELD violation on record · most recent Jun 20, 2024. FMCSA does not publish the ELD device brand; these are the carrier's logging-compliance signals.

0ELD device issues
1No log / no ELD
0False logs
0Drove over hours

Crash history· 22 total · 0 in 24 mo

22
Total crashes
0
In last 24 mo
0
Fatal
9
Injury
YearCrashesFatalInjuryTow
20241001
20231011
20221001
20211001
20202012
20192022
20181011
20162012
20151001
20132012
20111001
20081001
20061001
20051011
20041011
20012002
20001001
DateStateFatalitiesInjuriesTow-away
Jun 3, 2024MT00Yes
May 31, 2023MT02Yes
Jun 23, 2022SD00Yes
Mar 15, 2021MT00Yes
Nov 20, 2020MT01Yes
Nov 10, 2020SD00Yes
Aug 27, 2019MT01Yes
May 31, 2019MT01Yes
Aug 2, 2018MT02Yes
Oct 3, 2016MT01Yes
Jun 27, 2016MT00Yes
Sep 8, 2015MT00Yes
Oct 4, 2013MT00Yes
May 22, 2013MT02Yes
Jul 12, 2011MT00Yes
Aug 18, 2008MT00Yes
May 31, 2006MT00Yes
Apr 14, 2005MT01Yes
Feb 12, 2004MT01Yes
Nov 16, 2001MT00Yes
Feb 6, 2001MT00Yes
Dec 15, 2000MT00Yes