A railroad may not place or continue in service a car, if—

1. (a) The car is equipped with a coupler shank that is bent out of alignment to the extent that the coupler will not couple automatically with the adjacent car;
2. (b) The car has a coupler that has a crack in the highly stressed junction area of the shank and head as shown in the figure below (see figure 2).
3. (c) The car has a coupler knuckle that is broken or cracked on the inside pulling face of the knuckle.

4. (d) The car has a knuckle pin or knuckle thrower that is:

   1. (1) Missing; or
   2. (2) Inoperative; or

5. (e) The car has a coupler retainer pin lock that is—

   

   1. (1) Missing; or
   2. (2) Broken; or

6. (f) The car has a coupler with any of the following conditions:

   1. (1) The locklift is inoperative;
   2. (2) The coupler assembly does not have anticreep protection to prevent unintentional unlocking of the coupler lock; or

   3. (3) The coupler lock is—

      1. (i) Missing;
      2. (ii) Inoperative;
      3. (iii) Bent;
      4. (iv) Cracked; or
      5. (v) Broken.