CDL restrictions

The codes on the license

49 CFR 383.153 prints these restriction codes on a commercial driver’s license:

• L — no air-brake-equipped commercial motor vehicle.
• Z — no full-air-brake-equipped commercial motor vehicle.
• E — no manual-transmission-equipped commercial motor vehicle.
• O — no tractor-trailer commercial motor vehicle. Under 49 CFR 383.95(d) that means a tractor-trailer connected by a fifth wheel that requires a Class A CDL.
• M — no Class A passenger vehicle.
• N — no Class A and Class B passenger vehicle.
• K — intrastate only.
• V — medical variance.

A state may add other codes if each one is explained on the front or back of the document. This list is the federal set. It is not a promise that your card uses only these letters.

Checked October 29, 2026: 49 CFR 383.153 and 49 CFR 383.95.

The test vehicle can print the restriction

49 CFR 383.95 ties the equipment restrictions to the vehicle you use for the skills test, or to a failed air-brake knowledge test:

• Fail the air-brake knowledge test, or take the skills test in a vehicle with no air brakes, and the state must restrict you from every air-brake commercial vehicle. For this rule, air brakes include any system that works fully or partly on the air-brake principle.
• Take the skills test in a vehicle with air-over-hydraulic brakes, and the state must restrict you from a system that works fully on the air-brake principle.
• Take the skills test in an automatic, and the state must restrict you from a manual transmission. For this rule, anything that is not a manual transmission counts as an automatic.
• Take the Class A skills test with a pintle hook or another connection that is not a fifth wheel, and the state must restrict you from a fifth-wheel tractor-trailer that requires a Class A CDL.

Passenger skills tests add a different limit. A test in a Group B passenger vehicle restricts you from a Group A passenger vehicle. A test in a Group C passenger vehicle restricts you from Group A and Group B passenger vehicles. That second limit is restriction N. It is not the tank endorsement, which uses the same letter on the endorsement line. The Class C guide and the endorsement guide keep those lines apart.

Restriction V is different again. If the state is notified that you have a medical variance, it must show V on the driving record and on the license. The note under 49 CFR 383.95 says a driver with that code is restricted from operating a commercial motor vehicle in the other country under the agreement between Canada and the United States.

Removing one is not the same for every code

49 CFR 383.135(b)(7) covers the air-brake, full-air-brake, and manual-transmission restrictions. You do not have to retake the complete skills test. The state may give a modified skills test that shows you can operate the full air brakes, the air-over-hydraulic brakes, or the manual transmission. To remove the air-brake or full-air-brake restriction, you must also pass the air-brake pre-trip inspection and the air-brake knowledge test.

49 CFR 383.135(b)(8) is stricter for the tractor-trailer restriction. You must retake all three skills tests in a representative tractor-trailer.

The sections checked do not print a state fee for adding or removing a restriction. Ask the licensing agency. Do not copy another state’s charge. Ask the school which transmission, brake system, and coupling you will test in before you pay, and ask the state what that vehicle would print on the license. The Class A guide is the place to match a fifth-wheel tractor-trailer to the test vehicle.