A restriction sounds like a penalty and is not. Under § 383.95 it is a consequence of the equipment in the vehicle you chose for the skills test — a record of what you did not demonstrate. That makes it the one part of licensing where a decision taken for convenience on the morning of a test can quietly shape what work you may accept for years.

Take them in order. Under § 383.95(a), if an applicant either fails the air brake component of the knowledge test, or performs the skills test in a vehicle not equipped with air brakes, the State must indicate that the person is restricted from operating a commercial motor vehicle equipped with any type of air brakes — and for this purpose air brakes include any braking system operating fully or partially on the air brake principle. § 383.95(b) is the narrower cousin: perform the skills test in a vehicle with air-over-hydraulic brakes and the restriction bars any braking system operating FULLY on the air brake principle, with air over hydraulic defined as a system operating partly on each principle. Under § 383.95(c), performing the skills test in a vehicle with an automatic transmission restricts you from operating one with a manual — and automatic here means any transmission other than a manual as § 383.5 defines it.

Three more attach to what you towed or carried. § 383.95(d): take a Group A skills test in a combination whose power unit and towed unit are connected by a pintle hook or other non-fifth-wheel connection, and the State must restrict you from operating a tractor-trailer combination connected by a fifth wheel that requires a Group A license. Sections 383.95(e) and (f) do the same for passenger work: an applicant for a passenger endorsement who tests in a vehicle requiring a Group B license is restricted from Group A passenger vehicles, and one who tests in a Group C vehicle is restricted from both Group A and Group B passenger vehicles. In every case the pattern is identical — the license records the limit of what the test actually showed.