A device that stops working does not stop the duty to record, and § 395.34(a) sets out what a driver must do in an order that repays memorizing, because it is read under pressure. Note the malfunction and give the motor carrier written notice of it within 24 hours. Reconstruct the record of duty status for the current 24-hour period and the previous 7 consecutive days, and record them on graph-grid paper logs complying with § 395.8 — unless the driver already possesses those records, or they are retrievable from the device. And continue to prepare the record manually, to the § 395.8 standard, until the device is serviced and brought back into compliance. Paper is not a grace period here; it is the record, kept to the same requirements § 8.1 set out, for as long as the failure lasts.

Two of those three duties surprise people. The reconstruction reaches BACKWARDS — the current period plus the previous 7 consecutive days — so a device failing on a Friday can put a week back into the driver’s hands, and the two exceptions are the reason to keep printed or retrievable copies as a habit rather than a chore. And the notice to the carrier is written. A mention on the phone at the next dispatch is not what the paragraph asks for, and the 24-hour clock on it runs from the malfunction rather than from anybody’s convenience. § 395.34(b) then adds the roadside case: a driver inspected for hours-of-service compliance during a malfunction must provide the authorized safety official the records manually kept under those paragraphs — which is only possible if the reconstruction was actually done.

The carrier’s clocks run alongside the driver’s. Under § 395.34(d)(1), a carrier that receives or discovers information about a malfunction must act to correct it within 8 days of discovering the condition or of the driver’s notification, whichever comes first. A carrier needing longer must notify the FMCSA Division Administrator for the State of its principal place of business within 5 days of the driver’s notice, in a signed request naming the representative filing it, the make, model and serial number of each device, the date and location of each malfunction as the driver reported it, and a statement of what the carrier has done in good faith to repair, replace or service the units. A data diagnostic event is treated differently and more lightly: § 395.34(c) tells a driver whose device flags a data inconsistency to follow the carrier’s and the device provider’s recommendations for resolving it, rather than to start reconstructing anything.