The contractor that runs Hawaii’s zipper lane on the H-1 freeway was warned to change the brakes on his Zip Mobile five months before brake troubles sidelined it, causing a major traffic jam.

Red brake lights were in abundance and traffic was at a standstill on the H-1 freeway the morning that the ZipMobile broke down, so 4,000 car-pooling commuters could not use the Zipper Lane and for the first time since they began service in 1998, both vehicles were down at the same time that day.

Hawaii News Now obtained a manufacturer’s inspection report of the Zipper vehicles done back in August of last year and it revealed that the contractor recommended the brakes on the zip mobiles be changed.

The report said the ZipMobiles were in “good condition” overall, but noted they are 15 years old.

“Many components are beyond the recommended service life due to age, hours or both,” said the report, prepared by Lindsay Transportation Solutions Sales and Service, LLC.

The state Transportation Department pays a company called Safety Systems and Signs Hawaii a little more than $2 million a year to run and maintain the zipper lane and its vehicles in a contract that expired last fall.

The state is withholding payment for that day’s work from Safety Systems and assessing damages allowed under its contract for a total of $6,817, a DOT Spokeswoman Caroline Sluyter said.

Greg Grosch, CEO of Traffic Solutions Corporation and Safety System’s corporate owner said it’s the first time in the 14 years that the state has conducted an in-depth inspection of  all the companies vehicles.

The inspection found 20 items, including the brakes, that needed to be changed but none of them were “immediate public safety issues,” Grosch said.

He also stated the company was working to change the components, a lot of which were obsolete and difficult to locate, but had not changed the brakes when they seized up, causing the shut down.