Autobody News September 2010 Western Issue

“You first came to national prominence as a shooting victim —theprelude to the grisly nine hundred murder-suicides in Jonestown,Guyana, in 1978. At that time you were a 28-year old lawyer andlegislative aide accompanying Congressman Leo Ryan to

inquire about Jim Jones’ Peoples’ Temple cult.Many of our readers know that five of your party,

including Congressman Ryan, were killed, and that youwere left for dead for nearly 24 hours before help

arrived.What readers likely don’t know is that after

your rescue you endured a dozen surgeries torecover from five gunshot wounds, and that you

still had bullet fragments in you when you first ranfor Congress.

Tragedy struck again in 1994 when your firsthusband was killed when his car was hit by anunlicensed driver with faulty brakes.

What no one but you knows is how thesehorrific experiences shaped your political viewsand perceptions.

Tell us how they did ”

talks with Autobody News about her long-time consumerinterests, including finance reform, insurance and automotiverepair issues, replacement parts and steering. She knowsfar more than most politicians about these issues becauseshe’s carried much related legislation in California.

Collision repairers nationwide need to pay attention.

California Congresswoman JACKIE SPEIER

INTERVIEW by Ed Attanasio

see page 42 for interview

CaliforniaNevadaArizona YEARS www.autobodynews.com

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WesternEdition

VOL. 28 ISSUE 9SEPTEMBER 2010

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www.autobodynews.com | SEPTEMBER 2010 AUTOBODY NEWS 3

‘Open Letter’ Leads to Lawsuit InvolvingAftermarket Certifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Pebble’s Concours d’Elegance ‘Best of Show’ . . . 462009 Dealer Wholesale Parts Down More than19% from ‘08 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

5 Series and Lancer Make Top Safety Pick Awards . 59ACIC Seeks to Axe Sacramento Crash Tax Scheme. 6Allstate Operating Income Rises in Q2 . . . . . . . . . . 3Allstate Spends $1.33M Lobbying . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Amaradio - The Lack of Industry Leadership . . . . 49Attanasio - California Congresswoman Jackie Speier. 1LKQ is Fueling Smarter to “State of Greenness” . 23AZ Unsure if Speed Cameras Affect Street Safety. . 4BMW Gran Turismo Recall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Brown - NCIA Says Totaling at 65% of Cash Valueis Too Low a Threshold in Nevada . . . . . . . . . . 14

CA BAR Proposes Smog Check Changes . . . . . . . 4CA Mandates Pressure Checks on Tires . . . . . . . . 4Chess - Why is Camry “B” Pillar ReinforcementRepair Done at the Roof Line? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

CIC Discussions: Repair Standards and FordCompares OEM to Non-OEM Parts . . . . . . . . . . 8

Copper in Brake Pads Restricted in WashingtonState, California Next?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Court Dismisses Suit Challenging CACommissioner’s Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

CRAWrites in Opposition to SB427 Unless Amended39Drew Ford in LaMesa, CA, Hosts Free Extrication Demo17Espersen - OE Repair Information Sets the Standard 57Evans - Building a Numbered Car Exactly likethe Red Mist, Part Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Ex-GM Worker Accused of Stealing Secrets . . . . 40Farmers Reduces CA Auto Rates 14.5 Percent. . . . 6Ford Crash Avoidance Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Franklin - ‘Bird Dogging’—Guerilla Tactics forSmall Body Shops. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

GM Awaits Fuel Ratings on Volt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Honda Parts Position Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Hyundai Shoots for 50 mpg Fleet by 2025. . . . . . 43I-Car 1st Annual Ultimate Collision EducationMakeover 53I-CAR Overview Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Jaguar Recalls 2010 XK and XF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Motor Guard Introduces BIG BLOCK® Sanding Blocks 14NACE Town Hall on Aftermarket Parts . . . . . . . . . 19New Laws on Louisiana’s Books Include TougherPenalties for Texting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

NHTSA Ponders Requiring Stability Control . . . . . 53Nissan Recalls Cube for Fuel Leak . . . . . . . . . . . . 45NV Shop Acquired by Gerber Collision . . . . . . . . . 4Obama to Set $250 Million Loan for Ford Exports . 27Record Attendance Forecasted for 2010 SCRS . . 38San Diego CAA Talks on BAR and Insurance Race. 19Schroeder, Pro Spot - Len’s Auto Body EndorsesOceanside’s Pro Spot Quality Welding Systems . 36

Senate Committee Passes High-Tech Legislation . 47Sherwin-Williams Expands Online Training. . . . . . 33State Farm Introduces Distracted Driving Tool . . . 43Tim Morgan Appointed GM at Celette-Elektron . . . 19Tire Inflation Regulation Submitted to CA OAL . . . . 4Toyota Announces Recall For Avalons . . . . . . . . . 40Toyota Pushes Back U.S. Prius Production by Years 33VW Passat Probed for Fire Risk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Weaver - Three Gallons of Trouble . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Williams - Parts for Profit 5—Pricing. . . . . . . . . . 24Yoswick - Shop Data Raise Privacy Concerns . . . 50Yoswick - I-CAR Announces New Training . . . . . . 18Yoswick - Recyclers and Shops Meet on UsedParts Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Contents

Publisher & Editor: Jeremy Hayhurst

General Manager: Barbara Davies

Editorial Assistant: Erica Schroeder

Contributing Writers: Tom Franklin, David Brown, John

Yoswick, Lee Amaradio, Rich Evans, Janet Chaney, Toby

Chess, Mike Causey, Tom McGee, Ed Attanasio

Advertising Sales: Joe Momber, Christina Shubert

(800) 699-8251

Sales Assistant: Kristy Mangum

Art Director: Rodolfo Garcia

Serving California, Nevada and Arizona, Autobody News

is a monthly publication for the autobody industry. Per-

mission to reproduce in any form the material published

in Autobody News must be obtained in writing from the

publisher. ©2010 Adamantine Media LLC.

Autobody News

P.O. Box 1400, Oceanside, CA 92051-1400

(800) 699-8251 (760) 721-0253 Fax

www.autobodynews.com

Email: [email protected]

AAPEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

AEGIS Tools Intl. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

Audi Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . . . .57

Auto Body Guru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60

Autoland Scientech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

Automotive Equipment Solutions . . . . . .6

Automotive ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

BMW of Riverside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . . .21

British Motor Car Distributors . . . . . . . . .42

Buerge Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge . . . . . . . . .7

Chassis Liner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59

Completes Plus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

Crevier BMW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Downtown Motors of LA

(Audi, VW, Porsche) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

DuPont . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Enterprise Rent-A-Car . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Folsom Lake Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep . . . .15

Ford Wholesale Parts Dealers

AZ, CA, & NV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Galpin Motors . . . . . . . . . . . .25, 30-31, 35

Garmat USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

Global Finishing Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . .9

GM Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . . . . .47

Harbor Hyundai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Honda/Acura Wholesale Parts Dealers .58

Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . .52

Kia Motors Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . .37

LKQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Mazda Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . .56

Mitsubishi Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . .54

MOPAR Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . .34

Motor Guard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Nissan/Infiniti Wholesale Parts Dealers . . .48

Pacific BMW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

Performance Radiator . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

Perry Mazda-Ford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

Power Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge . . . . . . . . .11

PPG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Pre Fab Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Pro-Spray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

RBL Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

Replica Plastics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51

Riverside Metro VW-Honda-Hyundai-

Nissan-Mazda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Robotic Glass Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

SCA Appraisal Company . . . . . . . . . . . .26

Sierra Chevrolet-Honda-Mazda-Subaru 40

Spray Net Spray Booths . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Subaru Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . . . .45

Timmons VW-Subaru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

VIM Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55

Volkswagen Wholesale Parts Dealers . . . .53

Volvo Crash Wholesale Dealers . . . . . . .50

Walcom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Weatherford BMW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Inde

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Western

Allstate IncomeRises in Q2The Allstate Co. reported that secondquarter 2010 operating income roseto $441 million compared to $297million in the same period of 2009,reflecting improved results in bothproperty/liability and Allstate Finan-cial.

Net income was $145 million inthe second quarter of 2010 comparedto $389 million in the second quarterof 2009, primarily due to realizedcapital losses in the 2010 quarter ver-sus realized capital gains in the prioryear period.

Allstate brand growth of 1.6 per-cent contributed to the premium in-crease, partially offset by a 20.4percent Encompass brand declinewhen compared to the second quartera year ago. Actions to improve En-compass profitability negatively im-pacted results.

Although lower than the recordsecond quarter impact in 2009 of 12.5points, it was 3.2 points higher thanAllstate’s 19-year average for a sec-ond quarter of 6.6 points.

Allstate brand standard auto pre-miums written increased 1.9 percentfor the second quarter of 2010 com-pared to the prior year second quar-ter, due to a 3.3 percent increase inaverage premium.

Allstate Spends$1.33M LobbyingAllstate Corp. spent $1.33 millionin the second quarter to lobby thefederal government on legislationinvolving flood insurance regula-tions, safe-driving laws and finan-cial reforms, according to a recentdisclosure report and reportsmadeby Bloomberg’s BusinessWeek.

The total is down from $1.54million that Allstate spent in thesame quarter a year ago, but upfrom the $1.08 million that theproperty and casualty insurer spentin this year's first quarter.

According to a July 20 filingwith the House clerk's office, All-state lobbied the government on is-sues including flood insurancerate-setting and financial regulatoryreforms.

Those reforms included a pro-posal to tighten regulation of deriv-atives, private bets between twoparties on how the value of assetslike crops or measures like interestrates will change in the future.

Allstate, based in Northbrook,Ill., also lobbied the House andSenate on legislation aimed at re-ducing accidents caused by inatten-tive drivers who send text messageswhile at the wheel.


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Arizona transportation officials say alack of needed data forced cancellationof planned research on whether speedenforcement cameras deployed alongPhoenix-area freeway cameras im-proved traffic safety.

The state concluded itsgroundbreaking and controversialtwo-year program on July 16 thatput fixed and mobile cameras alonghighways statewide.

The state Department of Trans-portation’s research center awarded afederally funded contract to a nationalengineering firm, Omaha-based HDRInc., to study the effectiveness ofspeed cameras in the Phoenix area.

Work under the $100,000 con-tract was still in its early stages whenit was canceled May 27 after officialsconcluded that they didn’t have thetraffic-count data required to conductthe research, ADOT officials said inresponse to inquiries from The Asso-ciated Press.

It turned out that the required dataisn’t collected often enough, some-thing that could have been addressedwhen the speed camera program waslaunched but not after the fact,spokesman Tim Tait said. “We only dothe counts every three years (but) therewas a mistaken assumption that we did

data every year.”HDR was paid $17,300 for the

preliminary work it did under the con-tract, ADOT spokeswoman LauraDouglas said.

According to a planning docu-ment obtained by the AP, the canceledstudy was intended to document anyeffects of speed cameras on trafficcrashes, including impacts on vehiclespeeds and accident rates and whetherany safety gains decrease over time.

“It was a worthwhile project. Iwish we could have studied more onthe effects of photo enforcement,” saidJason Harris, an ADOT research man-ager.

An earlier study conducted by anArizona State University research ontraffic cameras operated on behalf ofthe city of Scottsdale on a stretch offreeway in that Phoenix suburb inparts of 2006 and 2007 concluded thatthe cameras’ presence reduced vehiclespeeds and the number and severity ofaccidents.

Former Gov. Janet Napolitanohad cited those findings in launchingthe statewide program, which criticssaid was actually motivated by a de-sire to generate revenue for the state.Current Gov. Jan Brewer said she con-sidered the cameras intrusive.

CA Mandates PressureChecks on TiresThe California Air Resources Board(CARB) has mandated that all serv-ice centers are required to check andinflate customer’s tires to the manu-facturer’s recommended pressure—regardless of whether or not the car’sservice has anything to do with tires.California’s goal is to reduce green-house gas emissions from cars driv-ing around with under-inflated tires,which have higher rolling resistance.These circumstances result in carsusing more fuel and thereby emittingmore greenhouse gasses. Initiated in2009, the law’s intent is to help carowners to have their vehicle’s tirepressure checked every time the carcomes in for service.

In latest revision, the regulationapplies to all automotive serviceproviders who do maintenance or re-pair service, but excludes certain au-tomotive repair shops including autobody, auto glass installer, auto dis-mantlers, and auto parts retailers.

There could be gray areas if aservice provider offers a mix of serv-ices, such as repair and body shopwork. Consumers who have nitrogenfilled tires can decline inflation serv-ice if the shop does not have nitrogenfilling capacity.

AZ Unsure if Speed Cameras Affect Street Safety Tire Inflation RegulationSubmitted to CA OALThe California Air Resources Board(ARB) has filed with the Office ofAdministrative Law (OAL) the re-submittal final rulemaking packagefor the “Regulation to Reduce Green-house Gas Emissions from VehiclesOperating with Under Inflated Tires.”

The regulation details a list of re-quirements and deadlines automotiveservice providers must adhere to.

By Sept. 1, 2010, all automotiveservice providers are required to:● Check and inflate each vehicle’stires to the recommended tire pres-sure rating, with air or nitrogen, asappropriate, at the time of performingany automotive maintenance or repairservice; and● Indicate on the vehicle service in-voice that a tire inflation service wascompleted and the tire pressure meas-urements after the services were per-formed; and● Perform the tire pressure serviceusing a tire pressure gauge with atotal permissible error no greater than± 2 pounds per square inch (psi); and● Have access to a tire inflation ref-erence that is current within threeyears.● Keep a copy of the vehicle serviceinvoice for a minimum of three years.

CA BAR Proposes SmogCheck ChangesThe California Bureau of AutomotiveRepair (BAR), within the state’s de-partment of Consumer Affairs, hasproposed changes to its Smog CheckProgram. The BAR wants to updatethe regulations involved in the SmogCheck Program to speed up the re-tirement of older, high-polluting ve-hicles. The program was designed toreduce emissions by requiring vehi-cles to meet certain standards. Own-ers of vehicles not meeting thesestandards can retire their vehicles formonetary compensation. BAR’s CAPprogram provides financial assistanceto qualified vehicle owners that wishto retire their vehicle. The Health andSafety Code establishes the EnhancedFleet Modernization Program, lim-ited to available funds. EFMP isavailable to eligible vehicle ownerswho receive compensation to retiretheir high-polluting vehicles. Ap-proved applicants must take their ve-hicle to an authorized dismantlerwhere the vehicle must pass an in-spection before it is retired. Currently,the regulations involve retiring vehi-cles for failing biennial smog checks.Among the new regulations is a planto incorporate off-cycle vehicles intothe program, which could retire anadditional 11,500 vehicles annually.

NV Shop Acquired byGerber CollisionThe Boyd Group announced theopening of a new repair center in LasVegas, Nevada, on July 30. The repaircenter, previously known as North-west Autobody & Paint, was recentlyacquired by the Boyd Group and nowoperates under the Gerber Collision& Glass trade name. The new loca-tion is approximately 18,500 squarefeet in size, with nearly 17,000 squarefeet of production space. It is well lo-cated to help serve consumers and in-surance clients in the northwesternLas Vegas area. Gerber Collision &Glass now operates three centers inNevada and 56 overall in the UnitedStates. Together with its 37 centers inCanada, the Boyd Group owns andoperates 93 centers in North America.“Our latest acquisition is consistentwith our strategy of expanding intoselect markets and growing our net-work of repair centers across NorthAmerica,” said Tim O’Day, Presidentand COO of the Boyd Group’s U.S.Operations. “Our newest location inLas Vegas enhances our ability toserve our customers in the northwest-ern part of that city.” Collision shopowners interested in acquisitionshould contact Kim Allen, BusinessDevelopment Manager: (847) 410-6003, [email protected]


A proposed crash tax ordinance beforethe Sacramento City Council sends amessage that Sacramento operateslike a small-town speed trap, gougingunwary non-resident drivers, accord-ing to Sam Sorich, president of theAssociation of California InsuranceCompanies.

Sorich intends to testify againstthe proposed ordinance, which wasscheduled to receive a final CityCouncil vote August 17 at SacramentoCity Hall but was postponed untilSeptember 14, according to the Sacra-mento Bee.

The ordinance would impose atax—or what the city calls a fee—onnon-Sacramento residents who are in-volved in traffic accidents within thecity limits. The fee would be imposedon at-fault, non-resident drivers.

“Sacramento is rightly proud tobe the capital of America’s largeststate. It should be welcoming withopen arms those from outside Sacra-mento who work in the city and visi-tors from around the world.

“Instead, the city plans literally toadd insult to injury,” said Sorich.

He noted that Sacramento, likemost local governments, faces sometough economic challenges. Buttaxing out-of-town motorists—in-cluding the thousands of workerswho commute into the city everyday—is dreadfully wrong and un-fair. The ordinance anticipates con-tracting with a third-party billingcompany that will bill insurance com-panies. The ordinance’s scheme isbased on the notion that insurance com-panies will pay the bill.

“But the fact is that auto insur-ance policies were never designed tocover these fees. Therefore, many ac-cident victims will be forced to paythe tax out of their own pockets. Thefees could be $2,000 or more. For in-surers who pay the tax, it representsan increase in costs—which in turncould affect rates for all drivers.

“One sure thing in all of this isthat the billing company that gets thecity contract will always get paid first.The billing company takes its cut.Then it sends the rest of the paymentto the city,” Sorich said.

ACIC’s president pointed out that

the city envisions that the billing com-pany will determine fault. The deci-sion of fault will be made by the samecompany that profits from the tax.

“Drivers won’t get a fair shake,”said Sorich. He added that the pro-posed ordinance is in effect doubletaxation. The emergency services arepaid for with property taxes. Sacra-mento, as a result, will be double-dip-ping at the expense of motorists. Fornon-resident drivers who have acci-dents, its taxation without representa-tion.

“The ordinance also could end uphurting and not helping the city. It an-ticipates additional revenue but failsto consider the amount of lost salesrevenue when residents from sur-rounding areas and potential visitorsdecide to stay away to avoid beingtaxed for just being in an accident.

“The ordinance tells Californians—who come to work in Sacramento,who come to the city for recreation,shopping and entertainment and whocome to Sacramento to visit their statecapital—that they are second-classcitizens,” said Sorich.


Farmers Reduces CAAuto Rates 14.5 PercentCalifornia Insurance CommissionerPoizner announced that Farmers In-surance customers are eligible to re-ceive an average rate reduction of14.5% and a one time 10% insurancepremium rebate, worth a combinedtotal of up to $100 million.

The rate reduction applies to cus-tomers of Farmers Insurance are in-sured through one of their two majorauto insurance subsidiaries, FarmersInsurance Exchange and Mid-CenturyInsurance Co. Farmers Insurance cus-tomers insured by the subsidiary Mid-Century Insurance Co. are alreadyreceiving the new lower rate.

Those currently insured by Farm-ers Insurance Exchange and renew theirpolicies between July 15, 2010 and Jan.15, 2011 will receive a one-time 10 per-cent rebate on their premiums.

That rebate is estimated to beworth approximately $50 per insuredcar or $32 million. In addition, thosesame customers will also receive an on-going rate cut of approximately 15 per-cent worth an estimated $72 million.

ACIC Seeks to Axe Sacramento Crash Tax Scheme

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8330 Indiana Ave., Riverside, CA 925048330 Indiana Ave., Riverside, CA 92504

by John YoswickSpecial to Autobody News

Let’s say the industry developed a for-mal set of “repair standards” for colli-sion repair. What then?

This was the question a CollisionIndustry Conference (CIC) committeeintroduced at CIC’s meeting inChicago in July.

Jeff Patti, chairman of the In-dustry Standards Committee, said hiscommittee felt that, in addition toworking on the proposed set of stan-dards, it should also begin theprocess of considering what might bethe next step. He outlined the pro-posed creation of a non-profit organ-ization that would oversee the finaldevelopment and implementation ofthe standards. Although designed pri-marily to prompt discussion of thetopic, Patti’s proposal included de-tails down to the level of potentialcosts for launching such an organiza-tion and possible fees for those wish-ing to participate.

Such an organization, Patti said,would be limited to one focus: the de-

velopment and implementation of thestandards.

It would work to gain consen-sus from “all stakeholders in theindustry” for the standards, hesaid, thus following the guidelinesestablished by the American Na-tional Standards Institute (ANSI),the body that essentially sets stan-dards for ‘standards develop-ment.’

“Its mission would be to establishand manage collision repair standardsdeveloped by collision industry stake-holders,” Patti said. “That’s every-body in this room. Everyone will havea say in what goes on. This won’t belimited to any one particular seg-ment.”

As hoped, the proposal didprompt discussion at CIC. ScottBiggs, of Assured Performance Net-work, said he felt that rather than cre-ate another industry organization thatwould need to build awareness, cred-itability and funding, the standardscould instead be overseen by an exist-ing industry organization such as I-CAR.

Others questioned the need for in-volvement of anyone other than colli-sion repairers in creating repairstandards.

“It’s ultimately the repairer whowould abide by the standards,” AaronSchulenburg, executive director ofthe Society of Collision Repair Spe-cialists (SCRS), said. “When you have‘stakeholders,’ there are special inter-ests involved. There are lots of organ-izations out there that are directed forconsumer protection that are easilyswayed and don’t necessarily protectthe consumer. There’s a lot of skepti-cism out there about abiding by repairstandards that are developed by otherentities with vested interest in howthey want us to act.”

CIC administrator Jeff Hendleragreed.

“Developing standards for thecollision repair industry does not needto involve insurers, database providersor anybody else but those peopletouching that car,” Hendler said. “Thebody shop person already is standingside by side with an insurer who issaying, ‘Yeah, I know that’s the right

way to repair the car, but we won’tpay for it.’ That’s BS.”

Patti and others said that part ofwhat ANSI requires in the develop-ment of standards is consensus of allaffected stakeholders. Part of why thestandards should be overseen by an in-dependent sole-focus organization, hesaid, is to avoid influence by specialinterests.

“This has to be a consumer drivenorganization,” he said. “We have tolook out for our mutual customer.”

Schulenburg also questioned howeffective the industry would be at try-ing to implement “voluntary” stan-dards.

“Things that are voluntary tendnot to be followed, and those that dofollow them in our industry often seeno benefit for doing so,” he said.“We’re often held to the lowest com-mon denominator.”

The discussion of the issue willcontinue at a meeting scheduled forLas Vegas on November 4, the dayfollowing the next regular CIC meet-ing.

CIC Discussions: Repair Standards and Ford Compares OEM to Non-OEM Parts

See CIC Discussions, Page 12


by John Yoswick

The two gatherings of auto recyclersand collision repairers took place onlyone year apart, but they could not havebeen much further apart, at least ini-tially, in tone and tenor.

“A year ago, a shop owner stoodup at the start and all but accused theauto recycling industry of conspiringagainst shops,” said Mel Hunke ofthe Quality Replacement Parts (QRP),a coalition of auto recyclers in ninestates. “By the end of that meeting,and from the start of the second one,the repairers saw that recyclers werenot the enemy, and the recyclers sawthat, as an industry, they have somegenuine quality and customer serviceissues they need to address. Everyonecame into that second meeting withmore of an interest in, ‘Okay, how dowe improve the situation?’”

The next of these “Recycled PartsRoundtable” meetings, which arebeing organized by QRP as part of itseffort to discuss and work toward res-olution of issues related to the use ofrecycled parts in collision repair, willbe held November 4 in Las Vegas. Themeetings have been facilitated by in-dustry consultant Lou DiLisio, andhave brought together about twodozen representatives from auto recy-cling and collision repair companiesfrom around the country.

One of the key topics of discussionat the a recent meeting was the need formore complete and accurate descrip-tions of recycled parts and their condi-tion. The group agreed that not enoughrecyclers use—and far too few repair-ers are aware of and understand —thestandards and grading codes developedby the Automotive Recyclers Associa-tion to help both recyclers and shopsunderstand the condition of used parts.

The attendees at the meetingagreed that recyclers need to improvethe accurate use of these systemswithin their industry, and should re-view this information with their repairshop customers, perhaps providingshop estimators and parts managerswith laminated copies of the gradingand damage codes.

“It has come through pretty clearlyat these meetings that many of the issuesboil down to communication,” Hunkesaid. “Repairers simply need to com-municate what they need, and the recy-clers need to honestly reply whetherthey can meet those needs or not.”

The group discussed that educa-tional and reference materials on theseparts and damage description systemsare available at “Standards & Codes”on the ARA website (www.a-r-a.org).

Another potential win-win for re-cyclers, insurers and repairers couldresult if recyclers helped make shops

aware of parts they are likely to needin a repair but that are not typicallypurchased from a recycler—in partbecause they often are not on an ini-tial parts order and will likely be or-dered from the OE during thesupplement process.

“If you buy a fender, hood andbumper from me, but you also needthe windshield washer jug and batterytray and all the other stuff recyclersare currently crushing, we can amor-tize our overhead and dismantlingcosts over more parts, and you can in-crease your alternative part usage andsave totals,” Hunke said.

“I think recyclers should help ed-ucate repairers by showing them thatin a typical accident, these 10 keythings get damaged and you typicallyorder these five things, and there’sfive things you don’t typically order,”DiLisio suggested. “I think everybodyhas some responsibility here.”

DiLisio said there is also an op-portunity for recyclers to educatethemselves and their shop customersabout OEM recommendations, per-haps through subscriptions to the au-tomaker repair information websitesor third-party information providers.

“I was just in a shop with a Kiathat had the airbag blown,” DiLisiosaid. “Kia requires in that situationthat the wiring harness be replaced.It’s $1,100. If the recyclers understoodthis, there’s absolutely an opportunityto sell the shop a wiring harness if youlet the shop know that—and I bet mostshops don’t have that information.”

Similarly, DiLisio said, recyclerscan add value to their shop customersby having and sharing informationthat can help the shop ensure it willhave the parts it needs to prevent de-lays to a job.

“If you sell something that in-cludes one-time fasteners, my view is

you should be let-ting the shop knowthat,” DiLisio toldrecyclers at themeeting. “I thinkyou’ll sell moreparts because therepairers will gainthat confidence andtrust and utilize youmore.”There was also dis-cussion at the meet-ing about where theindustry stands in

terms of electronic systems for order-ing of recycled parts. The group dis-cussed that the lack of VIN decoderswithin the inventory management sys-tems used by recyclers limits a move toall-electronic parts ordering in the

short-term. But QRP representatives atthe meeting said they have a processcalled “Auto Sender” that strips the ad-ministrative information from an esti-mate—to protect shop and customerdata privacy—and sends the body ofthe estimate to the recycler in order tocheck for parts prices and availability.A committee was establish within thegroup to explore more fully-electronicparts ordering options. Hunke saidQRP plans to continue holding suchroundtable meetings to help movesome of these issues forward.

“We don’t have any illusions thatthere aren’t still some people out there,and maybe even at these meetings,who say, ‘If I had my druthers, I’dnever use a used part,’” Hunke said.“But there are others who are realisticabout it and say if we don’t find waysto use more recycled parts more prof-itably, we’re going to lose some in-surer repair programs and the repair isjust going to go some place else. Sothe only sensible thing for all of us is toaddress how are we going to processused parts so that everybody can comeout with some kind of a win.”


Recyclers and Shops Meet To Discuss Used Parts Usage

The “Recycled Parts Roundtable” brings together collision repairers andauto recyclers to discuss the use of recycled parts. The next such meet-ing will be held in Las Vegas on November 4.


Ford Compares non-OEM partsAlso at CIC in Chicago, Ford MotorCompany announced the findings ofits comparison of some Ford serviceparts to corresponding non-OEM re-placement bumper beams, bumperbrackets, and radiator core supports,Ford cited some critical differences.Spot welds on some of the non-OEMparts did not meet Ford specifications,for example, and the type of material(as well as its thickness and weight)often differed from the OEM part.

The non-OEM radiator core sup-port for the 2004-07 F-150, for ex-ample, was made out of plastic ratherthan magnesium and steel like theOEM service part. A non-OEM re-placement for the 2005-09 FordMustang’s single-piece ultra-high-strength steel bumper beams wasfound to be made of two mild-steelpieces welded together. A non-OEMbumper bracket for the 2006–08Ford F-150 were half as thick andweighed less than half what theOEM parts weigh.

Paul Massie, powertrain and col-lision product marketing manager forFord, said he believes that Ford’sanalysis of the parts shows they arenot of equivalent “like kind and qual-ity,” a requirement for replacementparts in 20 states.

But Massie said that perhapsmore important than comparison andtesting of individual parts is to de-termine how they impact the overallresponse of the vehicle in a colli-sion. Non-OEM bumper parts thatare thicker or heavier than Fordparts, for example, Massie said,could affect that response just asmuch as those that are lighter andthinner.

That’s why Ford engineers alsoconducted simulated computer mod-eling of the non-OEM parts’ responsein a crash, again finding significantdifferences to the Ford parts.

“The use of these tested after-market copy parts will change the dy-namics of the crash process resultingin a differing response from the vehi-cle safety systems than those cali-brated by Ford Motor Company,” thecompany concluded based on its re-search.

Massie said he hopes Ford will dosome actual crash testing of the parts,but recognizes there is ample competi-tion within the company for the researchtime and funds that would require.

Other news at CICIn other news and discussion at CICin Chicago:● A CIC subcommittee shared a doc-ument outlining proposed standardsfor the digital images of damaged ve-hicles that insurers require. The goalof the standards is to help reducesome of the variation in insurer re-quirements, subcommittee chairmanRandy Hanson said, although aswith all standards, it won’t eliminatesome individual circumstances underwhich an insurer may require addi-tional digital images. “But for theeveryday claim, 80 percent of themthat you deal with every day, we thinkthere’s a great case for standards,”Hanson said. An outline of the pro-posed standard is available under the“Repairer-Insurer Relations TaskForce” section of the CIC website(www.ciclink.com).● State Farm explained that “SelectService” shops will now receive a

3-digit number—similar to a creditscore—from the insurer based onits measurement of the shop’s per-formance. The number, on a scaleof 1 to 1,000, will be updatedmonthly and is established using aproprietary formula that takes intoaccount the key performance indi-cators (KPIs) State Farm uses totrack each shop’s performance. Thereport also indicates how the shop’snumber compares with other shopsin the program (even taking into ac-count, State Farm’s George Averysaid, such things as differences inthe types of vehicles repaired), andlists three areas that the shop couldfocus on to improve its score.● Mike Quinn, co-owner of Ari-zona-based 911 Collision Centers,was named as the next chairman ofthe conference. Quinn has been along-time participant at CIC as wellas in the National Auto Body Coun-cil (NABC). His company operatesseven shops in Arizona and Ne-vada. He will succeed RussellThrall who completes his secondyear as chairman at the last CICmeeting of the year on November 3in Las Vegas.


Continued from Page 8

CIC Discussions


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NCIA Says Totaling at 65% of Cash Value is Too Low a Threshold in Nevadaby David M. BrownSpecial to Autobody News

The Nevada Collision Industry Associ-ation (NCIA) was founded in 2004 topromote the interests of those involvedin the business of repairing both me-chanical and collision-related damage.

Autobody News talked with sev-eral of the members and officers to geta better idea of the issues facing re-pairers in Nevada.

“Although we don’t have sepa-rate collision and mechanical repairdivisions, we try to represent the en-tirety of the industry, including paintcompanies, wreckers, glass compa-nies and even those businesses thatsell support services such as estimat-ing software,” says Kurtis Rosbor-ough, chairman of the NCIA andowner of Certified Autobody Center insouthwest Las Vegas.

The NCIA holds quarterly meet-ings to discuss and take action regard-ing the direction of the association aswell as schedules fund-raising eventsto supplement dues. In addition, thegroup regularly informs members ofany new requirements by federal, stateor local governments such as by theEPA and OSHA. Regular I-CARtraining sessions are held, and guestspeakers also appear at times.

Formerly known as the NevadaAutoBodyAssociation, the 120-member

NCIAcomprises Northern and Southernchapters, with 40 and 80 members, re-spectively. Joining Rosborough as stateofficers this year areTimWaldren, vicechairman; Vic Stratton, treasurer;Robby Fulgram, secretary; and MikeHarris, director at large. An associationlobbyist works for both chapters.

NABA was dormant for aboutseven to eight years, notes Waldren,owner of Paramount Auto Body inReno. He is also president of theNorthern Chapter, whose other officersare Jim Jackson, immediate past pres-ident; Robby Fulgram, vice president;Linda Barrett, secretary/treasurer; andRickAnderson, director at large.

“I believe the association allowsa place for pertinent information to bedisseminated to the membership thatassists in the running of our busi-nesses,” Waldren says. “The associa-tion asks the membership to sharewhat are the largest issues facing theirbusinesses, and then it moves forwardto meet those objectives.”

These services are in place notonly for legislative aims but to furthereveryday business as well. “The asso-ciation has helped the industry with in-formation, classes as well as with lawsand has kept us strong. We now knoweach other, and this binds us togetherand makes us strive to make the in-dustry a better place to work,” saidColleen Redd, treasurer for the South-

ern Chapter and an assistant managerat Chapman Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep inLas Vegas. Her fellow Southern Chap-ter board members are Rosborough,chairman; Vic Stratton, vice chair-man; Larry Darrow, secretary; andMike Harris, director at large.

A member of NCIA for six years,Harris, in his director-at-large respon-sibilities, primarily functions as chair-man of the association’s LegislativeCommittee. He believes that a majorchallenge for the NCIA is to amendthe state’s “Total Loss Law,” NRS487, enacted in 2003.

That law provides for totaling avehicle at 65% of its Actual CashValue. In part, it defines a “Total LossVehicle” as one “which has beenwrecked, destroyed or otherwise dam-aged to such an extent that the cost ofrepair, not including any cost associ-ated with painting any portion of thevehicle, is 65% or more of the fairmarket value of the vehicle immedi-ately before it was wrecked, destroyedor otherwise damaged.”

The NCIA says that this is toolow a threshold and harms all parties,

including the consumer, shops andinsurers. “We were able to makesome changes in 2005 by creatingnew definitions and the exclusion ofpaint and materials,” Harris notes,“but we are still ‘totaling’ far toomany vehicles.”

An original NCIA member andformerly a member of the governor’sappointed staff, Harris is the only ven-dor board member ever to serve on theNCIA board. A veteran of 40 yearsserving the industry in southern Ne-vada, he works for “Nevada Pic aPart,” which also includes locations inArizona and Utah.

As a result, the NCIA will be lob-bying for more changes to the law in2011, says Harris, noting, “The totalloss law is the first priority of our as-sociation in state legislative issues.”

“The idea behind the original leg-islation was to keep unsafe vehiclesoff the road,” adds Rosborough, “butthe NCIA believes that the law, origi-nally intended as a consumer advocatebill, isn’t serving that end. We’re hop-ing to get the law back to to do what itwas intended to do.”


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Drew Ford in La Mesa, CA, held afree extrication demonstration andseminar on late model cars on August5. I-CAR Instructor and Welding Spe-cialist Toby Chess led the demonstra-tion after giving a one-hour seminaron how to efficiently and safely cutthrough damaged and mangled latemodel and hybrid vehicles.

Drew Ford put on the seminar forfree in their collision center for anyfirefighters, EMTs, police and first re-sponders that wanted to attend. Theseminar was given free of charge

thanks to seminar sponsors; StateFarm Insurance, DuPont, Auto Clubof Southern California, EnterpriseRent-A-Car, West Autowrecking, KenIndustries and the California Auto-body Association.

“It’s self-serving; I know thistraining is necessary,” said Ted Stein,Ford Service Manager at Drew Ford,

“These guys need toknow how to cut apartnew cars.”

Firefighters madeup most of the crowd;the event had about 50confirmed guests whohad made reservationprior to the meeting butlate comers withoutreservations were wel-comed. San Diego areaFire Departments in at-tendance ranged fromCampo to Elfin Forest.

“It’s hard to get vehicles in thiscondition to work with,” said JackGlassford, an Elfin Forest Fire De-partment Volunteer. Glassford alsosaid the types of vehicles advertised to

be at the seminar were a real sellingpoint for him to attend.

“My captain told me I shouldhead down,” said Matt Faddis, a Vie-jas Firefighter.

The wrecked vehicles were do-nated from State FarmInsurance, Auto Club ofSouthern California andWest Autowrecking.Several late model vehi-cles as well as two hy-brids were available forattendees to practicecutting on.

“The structure oftodays cars are radicallydifferent than anythingyou’ve probably dealtwith,” said Ted Stein.Stein introduced Chess’presentation andthanked firefighterswho turned out to learnabout new techniques in the industry.

Toby Chess’ presentation focusedon how to work with high strengthsteel and some new electrical compo-nents found in late model cars, espe-

cially hybrid vehicles.“Most of these guys have

never had the opportunity to workon late model cars,” said Chess,

who said he hastaught more than2,000 firefighters thetechniques to quicklyand safely work withnew technologiesfound in late modelcars in the last yearand a half.

CDs of Chess’PowerPoint were pro-vided to attendeesafter the seminar.Chess’ presentationwent over into how tocompletely cut power

in newer vehicles, how to avoid theelectrical components around a hy-brid car’s battery and how to findthe weakest spots on the frames of

vehicles made with high strengthsteel.

“We put a lot of effort into thisand we’re happy with the turnout,”said Larry Houk, Drew Ford Colli-

sion Center Managerand local CAA chapterpresident.

While all attendeesseemed to understandthe seriousness of thematerial Drew Fordalso wanted to make ita fun night by provid-ing a buffet-style dinnerand raffle at the end ofthe night.

All extricationequipment was pro-vided by Holmatro Res-cue Equipment. More

information can be found at www.hol-matro-usa.com.


Drew Ford in La Mesa, CA, Hosts Free Extrication Demo for Late Model Cars

Cars were set up in mock crash scenarios in the collision repaircenter parking lot

A firefighter from Alpine FD cuts at the weakest part of the Bpillar

Toby Chess sets off airbags before extrications begin

Alpine firefighters cut into late model vehicles

John Edelen said that three years agowhen he stepped out of retirement totake on the role as CEO of I-CAR,someone well-known and respected inthe industry asked him why he would“waste his time” with an organizationlike I-CAR that was “no longer rele-vant.”

“At first I was stunned, and thenI was really … angry,” Edelen said,obviously choosing the adjective care-fully, generating laughs among the200 people gathered in Chicago for anI-CAR event this summer. “I-CAR ir-relevant? An organization that was es-tablished by the inter-industry 30

years ago to meetthe training needsof the inter-indus-try … irrelevant?After 30 years ofefforts by volun-teers to providethat training … ir-relevant? After the

industry had spent $170 million overthat period of 30 years … irrelevant?Not if I could help it.”

Over the last three years, Edelenhas overseen I-CAR’s efforts to reachout to the industry to find out what thetraining organization was doing rightand what needed to change to ensurethat its training and recognition pro-grams were focused, valuable – and rel-evant – to shops, insurers and educators.

Edelen said the results of that ef-fort, which were rolled out at theChicago meeting, is I-CAR’s new“Professional Development Program.”

Under the program, I-CAR hasidentified the knowledge required forthree levels of development (“Pro-Level 1, 2 and 3”) within each ofseven job classifications, such as “es-timator” and “non-structural techni-cian.” Other job classifications will bedeveloped over time.

The I-CAR or other training andtesting recommended to reach each ofthe three levels is also identified, pro-viding job-specific training paths.

The “Platinum Individual” and“Gold Class” recognition program re-quirements will also transition over a3-year period. By 2014, the “Platinum”designation will require having com-pleted the training to obtain “ProLevel

3” in the appropriate job classification,as well as completion of six hours of

training per year. A“Gold Class” shopwill be required tohave at least one“Platinum Individ-ual” in each of fourtypes of jobs (esti-mator, steel struc-tural technician,

non-structural technician and refinishtechnician).

One key change to the Platinumand Gold Class programs, I-CAR’s JeffPeevy pointed out, is that as the transi-tion moves forward, I-CAR’s hands-onwelding and sectioning qualificationtesting becomes part of the requirementto reach various “ProLevels” for somejob classifications. The steel weldingqualification test, for example, is re-quired in order for a steel structuraltechnician to achieve ProLevel 1.

Similarly, paint company certifi-cation is required for a refinish tech-nician to achieve ProLevel 3.

Peevy acknowledges the systemis almost a return to one that I-CARused in the past, before abandoning itin a effort to make it easier for techni-cians and shops to know what wasneeded to earn or maintain Platinum orGold Class status. But that simplifiedsystem, Peevy said, sometimes led tostudents earning needed points by tak-ing any class that was available ratherthan one relevant to their work. And inrecent years, he said, I-CAR has de-

veloped tools likeits online “Train-ing Manager” thathelps a businesstrack what trainingits employees haveor need, making areturn to more job-specific Platinum

and Gold Class requirements easier forthe business to manage, Peevy said.

Edelen acknowledged that hedoesn’t believe that all of thesechanges are apt to cause “people whodon’t invest in training today to sud-denly start.”

“But I believe the people in ourindustry who are interested in im-proving their individual personal per-

formance or the performance of theirbusiness now have access to a well-or-ganized, well-structured program ofprofessional development, one thatwill be better support their personaland business goals,” he said. “And Ibelieve that creates a competitive ad-vantage for them.”

So, too, he said, the changes willhelp make the Platinum and GoldClass designations more meaningful.

“We as an industry are reachingthe point where NOT being a Plat-inum Training individual or GoldClass facility also will mean some-thing,” Edelen said. “With thesechanges, it will become quickly andincreasingly more apparent whichbusiness are prepared through trainingto address the increasing complexityof repair…and (which) businesseshave failed and continue to fail to pre-pare themselves for the future. By notselecting a Gold Class business, the

consumer is unknowingly acceptingthe risk of having repairs completedby undertrained workers.”

Details on the new training andrecognition programs are available atthe I-CAR website (www.i-car.com).

In other changes, I-CAR execu-tives at the Chicago meeting said inthe coming years there likely will bemore variance in the length of classes(currently most are four hours) basedon necessary content. Pricing is alsolikely to change, although they did notprovide details; one option may be theability to purchase all “ProLevel 1”training needed for a certain job clas-sification at a package price.

More online training options arealso planned by early 2011. I-CAR isalso working on a system, also ex-pected in early 2011, that would allowveteran technicians to “test out” of atleast the ProLevel 1 requirements fortheir job classification.


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I-CAR Announces New Structure to its Training, Recognition Programs

Industry Insightwith John Yoswick

John Yoswick is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon, who has been writingabout the automotive industry since 1988. He is the editor of the weekly CRASHNetwork (for a free 4-week trial subscription, visit www.CrashNetwork.com).He can be contacted by email at [email protected].

Bill Stage

Jeff Peevy

John Edelen


San Diego CAA Talks onBAR and Insurance RaceThe San Diego chapter of the Cali-fornia Autobody Association met July27 at Tom Ham’s Lighthouse in SanDiego. The chapter was able to dis-cuss the BAR code of regulationswith guest speaker Peter Vann aswell as David Jones’ campaign forCA Insurance Commissioner.

Peter Vann gave a presentationabout codes and regulations pertaining

to the use of after-market parts ver-sus OEM partsand how to prop-erly fill out esti-mation forms tocoincide with in-surance companystandards. Vannalso discussed the

BAR equipment requirements for autobody shops, specifically equipmentused for structural repair purposes.

The San Diego CAA held afundraiser to benefit Jones at Park-way Bowl in El Cajon on August 13.PAW PAC is supporting Dave Jones’campaign for CA Insurance Commis-sioner.

Dave Jones will be interviewedin the October issue of AutobodyNews.

Tim Morgan AppointedGM at Celette-ElektronCelette Inc. and Elektron Inc. have an-nounced the appointment of TimothyMorgan as General Manager for bothcompanies. He replaces Matthias Lar-isch, who left the organization. Mor-gan most recently served as theCelette-Elektron Director of Sales andTechnical Operations. He has morethan 30 years of experience in the au-tomotive industry, including morethan 15 in collisionequipment distri-bution, marketingand education.

“We will con-tinue the improve-ments we’ve madeover the last eight-een months in cus-tomer service,distribution and training. We’re very ex-cited about the opportunities in the U.S.and Canada for both our flagshipbrands,” said Morgan.

Celette is a leading producer ofautomobile frame repair benches andmeasuring devices. Elektron is a re-spected manufacturer of spot weldersand other equipment for the autobody repair industry. Their equipmentis specified by most European carmanufacturers.

Tim MorganDave Jones

NACE Town Hall on Aftermarket PartsCreated especially for collision repairprofessionals, an official NACE TownHall meeting will be held during Auto-motive Service & Repair Week (ASRW)on Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2010 from11:30–1:00p.m. Sponsored byASA, thisevent will be a platform to discuss theuse of aftermarket parts. ASRW isscheduled for Oct. 10–13 at the Man-dalay Bay Convention Center in LasVegas and includes NACE and CARS.

The panel discussion, titled “IsCertification the Best AftermarketParts Policy for Consumers and Re-pairers?” will include various indus-try segments and entities that have (orplan to) establish parts certificationprograms. The program will focus onthese key questions:● What does parts certification meanto consumers and repairers?● Has parts certification been effec-tive to date?● What should determine whether aparts certification program works ornot?● With multiple parts certificationprograms in place and more in the de-velopmental stage, does this hurt orenhance the effectiveness of certifica-tion? Where does the proliferation ofthese programs stop?● Would consumers and repairers ben-

efit from a single parts certificationprogram versus multiple programs?● Should state governments and/orthe federal government be involved inparts certification? Why or why not?

Tickets are $40, include a boxlunch and are available in the onlineattendee registration systems forNACE and CARS.

“There’s no bigger debate in col-lision repair right now, than aftermar-ket parts,” says ASA president andchief staff executive Ron Pyle. “Asthe pulse of the industry, we realizedwe needed to allot extra time for thisimportant discussion at NACE.”

Many new show features and in-dustry forums are currently in devel-opment for ASRW 2010. Onlineregistration is now open and offersvarious package options starting at$210 and Expo registration availablefor just $15 until the August 31 earlycut-off. Online housing is also open,and provides the lowest hotel rates inrecent years.


NSF Files Suit Against CAPANSF International has filed suitagainst the Certified Automotive PartsAssociation (CAPA) and CAPA Exec-utive Director Jack Gillis.

NSF says its suit is in response toan “Open Letter” that Gillis, in his ca-pacity as CAPA’s Executive Director,circulated to members of the Automo-tive Body Parts Association on July 28,2010. Attorneys for NSF demanding apublic retraction from what theyclaimed were misstatements of fact andout and out distortions of NSF’s posi-tion in relationship to the automotive af-termarket and its certification programs.

In February this year NSF Inter-national announced the launch of itsnew Automotive Parts CertificationProgram to address concerns regard-ing consumer safety and compromisedautomobile crashworthiness from theuse of untested aftermarket structuralparts. The NSF Automotive Parts Cer-tification Program said it offers inde-pendent, third-party certification ofsteel bumpers, step bumpers, ab-sorbers, reinforcement bars and brack-ets, and that certification has never

previously been available for these af-termarket bumper system components.

NSF said at the time that the pro-gram offered by the Certified Auto-motive Parts Association (CAPA)currently certified plastic bumper cov-ers and facias but not reinforcementbeams, brackets, or energy absorbers,and that CAPA currently certified justone of the five categories of partsidentified by the Auto Body Parts As-sociation (ABPA) as a structural part:radiator core supports.

Not long afterward, CAPA an-nounced that its own structural partscertification program was also in de-velopment, and that the organizationhad been testing bumpers since lastyear. ABPA let it be known in April ofthis year that it was reviewing the NSFprogram with a view to other OEequivalent certification options becauseof shortcomings in the CAPA program.

Gillis’ letter was addressed toCharlie Hogarty, Chairman of theAuto Body Parts Association and hisCanadian counterpart, DeloresRichardson. It essentially took ABPAto task for participating in NSF’s new

certification program that has “un-known standards.” Hogarty respondedto Gillis in his own open letter on Au-gust 2. The full text of both letters canbe read at www.autobodynews.com.

The NSF suit seeks an injunctionand damages for false and misleadingstatements about NSF’s AutomotiveAftermarket Parts Certification Pro-gram and other NSF programs, quali-fications and abilities.

NSF says Gillis’ statements weremade in an apparent attempt to harmNSF and NSF’s 65-year stellar repu-tation for protecting the public healthand welfare, and to improperly implythat CAPA is superior to NSF in con-nection to automobile part verifica-tion/certification.

NSF says Gillis declined an op-portunity to retract his letter and cor-rect the record. NSF International saysit has filed this suit to protect its name,65-year reputation for protecting andimproving public health and safetyworldwide, and the integrity of theNSF Mark. The NSF suit alleges un-fair competition under 11 USC 1125(a), common law unfair competition,

violations of Michigan’s ConsumerProtection Act, business defamationand injurious falsehood. The suit wasfiled in U.S. District Court for theEastern District of Michigan, South-ern Division case no. 10-13309.

NSF launched an industry first,parts certification program for frontbumpers, step bumpers, absorbers, re-bars and brackets in early 2010, tocounter the growing concerns thatlower quality parts were being used inthe automotive repair industry. NSF’sAutomotive Aftermarket Parts Certi-fication Program verifies that after-market auto parts meet rigid safety,quality and performance standardsthrough testing and inspections.

CAPA is a direct competitor ofNSF in the area of automotive partscertification, and while NSF says itwelcomes the competition, the com-pany says it competition must be incompliance with applicable law.

NSF believes that Gillis’commentsregarding NSF’s qualifications and theNSFAutomotiveAftermarket Parts Cer-tification program constitute UnfairCompetition Under 11 USC 1125 (a).


‘Open Letter’ Leads to Lawsuit Involving Aftermarket Certifiers


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LKQ operates from nearly 300 facili-ties nationwide and surpassed $2 bil-lion revenue in 2009. It’s an enormouscompany that could potentially burnmany unneccesary thousands of dol-lars on fuel and electricity everymonth. But, by staying ahead of thegame in its pursuit of ultimate green-ness and sustainability in parts recy-cling, LKQ has quickly become aleader in re-using, remanufacturingand recycling everything it can whileusing fewer of the world’s natural re-sources in the process.

LKQ is a recognized leader in re-cycled auto parts and uses environ-mentally friendly business practices

and while recycling 492,000 vehicleslast year. That is equivalent to recy-cling about 540,000 tons of steel,47,000 tons of aluminum, and 13,000tons of copper, according to the com-pany’s web site. Through its opera-tions, LKQ helped to reducegreenhouse gas emissions by over890,000 tons, which is about the sameas the annual emissions of a city ofabout 82,200 people.

“In addition, LKQ recently part-nered with the Arbor Day Foundationto give its customers and anyone elseinterested in helping the environmentan additional way to be green in thecompany’s LKQ Get Green promo-tion, which ran from April 22 to June30 of this year. Together with its cus-tomers, LKQ was able to plant a forestat the conclusion of the program.”

Paul Shaw is LKQ’s Central Re-gion Vice-President, overseeing Col-orado, South Dakota, Nebraska,Western Iowa, Western and SouthernMissouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas,Northern and Western Louisiana.

Autobody News recently talkedat length with him about the latest de-velopments in his region. One of hisresponsibilities is to see LKQ and

Keystone become greener, as part ofan ongoing, proactive journey for theworld’s number one auto parts recy-cler.

Shaw’s job is a huge undertakingas he oversees 34 LKQ and Keystonerecycling salvage yard locations, twowheel plants and six bumper recyclingfacilities. More than $300 million inannual sales comes out of his region,making it a significant part of theoverall LKQ picture, which consistsof nearly 300 facilities nationwide.

In the newest facility in Houston,Shaw oversees a mega-warehouse thatacts as an LKQ aftermarket facility, abumper manufacturing facility and a

full recyclingfacility allunder oneroof.

A B N :Fuel conser-vation is anobvious stepto improve

greenness. What are you doing tomake your trucks more fuel-efficientoverall?

Shaw: The first thing we do isupdate our fleet regularly. A majorityof our newer trucks are equipped withidle shutdowns, depending on eachstate’s requirements.

For example, in Texas we havelaws that only allow 10–15 minutes ofidle time. Cutting down on idle timecan save a good deal of fuel while

benefiting the environment. Texas isstarting to implement many of thelaws that have been in effect in Cali-fornia for years, so that helps us tostay on top of things and keep things

in perspective. We also mandate ouremployees, even in areas where we donot have those laws, that they shut uptheir vehicles. We started implement-ing that several years ago when fuelwent up to $3–4 per gal-lon. That can really startto sting when you con-sider how much fuel weuse as a company.

One way we are try-ing to be more fuel-effi-cient is by re-using fuelon the Keystone side. Were-use all of the fuel thatwe pull from recycledvehicles and use it atmany of our locations.

This has been verycost effective for us and in some caseshas provided enough recycled fuel tosupply the entire fleet in certain mar-kets. We feel that if we can run on free(recycled fuel), we will obviously gothat route because it not only benefitsour company, but also the environment.

ABN: What other methods areyou using with your vehicles to savefuel?

Shaw: We changed all of ourforklifts to electric, and all of the newforklifts we put into our newest facil-ities are all-electric. We also buy gas-powered forklifts where we can, sothat we can re-use our recycled gas inthose forklifts while saving propane.We’re also always updating our oldervehicles to get better mileage. A lot of

our old box trucks didn’t havethe proper wind deflectors onthe front, so we added those tomany of the old trucks. Then,we started analyzing gear ra-tios on many of our semis andthe drive trains they use. Youcan change out the ratio of asemi and save$20,000–30,000 annually infuel just by altering the ratio ofa tractor trailer.

ABN: Have you altered yourdistribution strategies over the yearsto save more fuel that way?

Shaw: We are constantly lookingat our truck routes to save on fuel andto cut back on our trucks crossing

paths. We started doing this severalyears back when fuel prices were skyhigh. It made us stop and take a longlook at our truck routes. We put a GPSsystem on each truck for a week at a

time to map out each route. We thencompiled the data to show the mostcost effective routes and to ensure thatour trucks were not crossing pathswhen they did not need to. The nextstep we took was to combine LKQand Keystone routes where it madesense. With the information from theGPS and the combination of LKQ andKeystone routes, we were able tochange 60% of our routes to be morecost effective and fuel efficient in Dal-las alone. Our ultimate goal is to nothave more than one truck going to thesame location.

ABN: Adaptability and constantchange seems to be the norm in pur-suing the newest technologies toachieve complete greenness.

Shaw: Absolutely. Technology isa rapidly evolving industry. What wedid last year is already outdated today.My regional managers meet often todiscuss the changes in technology andways to make our region more green.By staying on top of the newest tech-nology advances, we can use that toour advantage to benefit our companyand the environment as a hole. One ofour most recent advances is the open-ing of our first green warehouse inWichita, Kansas. Some of our cost ef-fective areas of that warehouse in-clude the heating system, skylights,motion sensor T5 lights, and the ven-tilation system. The energy costs as-sociated with this warehouse areexceptional.

LKQ is Fueling Smarter to Expand its “State of Greenness”

CompanyConnections with Ed Attanasio

Ed Attanasio is an automotive journalist based inSan Francisco, California. He can be reached [email protected].

LKQ’s enormous warehouse in Houston, Texas has received multiple accoladesfor being a mega-green facility

Storing recycled fuels extracted from salvaged vehiclesfor re-use is an integral part of the whole green plan atLKQ

LKQ makes being green a priority, by leading the way in re-using,remanufacturing and recycling 492,000 vehicles annually

PRICING is a sensitive and some-times misunderstood issue. In thismonth’s article I’ll attempt to cover

some basic facts,clear up miscon-ceptions, and—at-tempt to increaseyour opportunitiesfor communicationwith customersand management.

Pricing isan issue with no

absolute answers, only guidelines;since a tremendous number of vari-ables make up the final cost. The re-tail price of parts is fixed andpublished. Profit is the differ-ence—but how much profit is there,and who gets it?

Let’s look at some of the vari-ables:1) Actual cost of item from differentsuppliers2) Published cost of item from manu-facturer3) Monthly changes between actualand published costs4) Shipping costs

5) Invoice discount6) Stock order discount7) Emergency order charges8) Wholesale incentives

All of these variables, and more,need to be considered by the dealer-ship when deciding what their pricingstructure will be.

The parts manager’s job is to findthe lowest possible cost for all of hisparts. I try to use every ordering trickthere is, and plan every purchase. Anyfunds saved in this way usually willgo into a separate account, contributeto the parts department net profit, andare not to be used to determine thepricing of any parts. Any funds usedto procure parts, freight, ordercharges, etc., also go into separate ac-counts for expense analysis. Discounts

are seldom larger than 5%, whileorder and freight charges are usually10%, or more. To make things easier,keep all of your parts on the shelf at atrue published cost figure.

Almost all body shop sales are re-stricted to only one price, the pub-lished retail price. All current

estimating systems use this price, andso do all insurance companies. Thismeans the discount given by the deal-ership is the only profit the shop willget.

This will set up a conflict of in-terest—both the dealership and thebody shop survive on the same smallprofit margin, and both need as muchprofit as possible in order to stay inbusiness. There is no need for conflict,however, if there is open communica-

tion between you. Everyone stayshappy as long as both sides of theequation understand one another.

Popular opinion would have usbelieve there is a wide profit marginat the dealership level, and althoughthis may have once been the case, it isnot so now. The pricing structure usedto include wholesale incentives that inmany cases allowed dealers to dis-count deeply and still make good prof-its. This is not true today.

With the current pricing trends,there is usually only a 40% differencebetween the dealer cost and the pub-lished list price.

A fair deal is to split the profit, re-sulting in a 20% discount to the bodyshop.

This leaves the parts departmenta 10% profit for expenses, a 5% profitfor commissions, and a 5% net profitfor the dealer.

Discounts which are greater than20% are rare, and depend entirelyupon the manufacturer’s wholesale in-centive programs.

These figures are based on partsordered on a stocking basis, not spe-


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Parts for Profit 5—Pricing: Sensitive and Often Misunderstood

Both the dealership and the body shopsurvive on the same small profit margin...there is no need for conflict if there isopen communication. Everyone stays

happy if there is understanding.

Larry Williams

cial orders. Freight and special ordercharges always reduce your profits. Abody shop should always make everyeffort to order parts well in advance,because if a part must be ordered onan emergency basis the freight alonecan wipe out any profit which youstand to gain.

Talk to your partners; familiarizeyourself with their policies, and nego-tiate a pricing structure that benefitseveryone concerned.

Pricing for the retail market is adifferent issue. The following infor-mation is primarily for parts man-agers. You cannot exist on wholesalebusiness alone. A 20% profit marginis not enough to cover your overhead.A business must make a minimum of30% gross profit in order to survive.You need to adjust your pricing to ac-complish this goal.

You begin with the 40% profitmargin that the manufacturer allows,and then calculate your invoice costs.I allow $2.00 per invoice—this coversthe paper, printer, and handling foreach sale. The problem is obvious. A$5.00 sale results in zero profit, andany sale less than that is a departmentloss!

The solution is called matrix pric-ing. You create a pricing structurebased on your parts cost that coversyour expenses. I have found that mostcustomers are not likely to questionitems that cost less than $50.00.Therefore, you keep the manufac-turer’s retail price in place for yourhigher priced items, and adjust all ofthe prices in the less than fifty dollar

range. Use a sliding scale based onyour cost to ensure enough depart-mental profit on lower priced items inorder to make it profitable for you tocontinue to sell them. I usually post asign stating that $2.00 is the minimumsale amount. That starts the matrix.Starting from that minimum, I use aninverse profit-percent/sale-ratio thatends at the $50.00 level.

You will need to use your ownjudgment when setting up your profit

margins. Don’t be greedy! Financialsuccess is based upon repeat business;not one-time sales. Analyze your salesand target the 30% goal. Your monthlystatement will give you all the infor-mation you need.

The last and best check on yourpricing program is the feedback fromyour counter personnel. They willtell you whether or not your cus-

tomers are accepting your matrix. Ihave heard this called the “flinch”method.

Example:Let’s imagine that a potential cus-tomer asks about brake pads, and youtell him that the price is $20.00. Thecustomer has no reaction. You thentell him that the price is per side($40.00). The customer still has no re-action. You then tell him that price is

per pad ($80.00). The customer nowhas a questioning expression on hisface. You have just reached the“flinch” point (and probably just lostyour customer).

This is not a technique I recom-mend for a real transaction, but willserve in principle to check your pric-ing matrix.

Again, I strongly emphasize thatevery dealer is different, and that thereis no standard pricing formula foreveryone.

You are the only one who canfind the proper balance-point betweenprofit and loss, based on all the met-rics we’ve discussed in this series ofarticles.

See Larry’s previous Parts forProfit articles at www.autobo-dynews.com. Go to www.autobo-dynews.com/content/distinctive-dealerships.html

Larry Williams is an innovativeparts manager with national awardsand over 30 years of experience increating and managing profitable de-partments. He can be reached for con-sultation at [email protected].


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Parts managers cannot exist on wholesalebusiness alone. 20% is not enough to

cover your overhead. 30% gross profit isa mininum and your pricing needs to

accomplish this goal.

Some say the recession is over, butfrom my observations, that recoveryhasn’t trickled down to most bodyshops yet. I see the large shops goingafter the incidental jobs that used tosustain smaller shops. When some oftheir DRP work slows down or driesup, they begin to look for ways to pickup jobs that normally went to theirsmaller competitors.

I’ve written before about theowner of a small shop in my area whohad a direct guerilla strategy for timeswhen business was slow. He droveover to the local college and walkedaround the parking lot looking fordamage on the Lexuses, BMWs andMercedes affluent parents had pur-chased for their college-age kids. Hewould write a rough estimate on theback of one of his business cards andstick in by the driver-side door handleand lock. He told me he always pickedup a few jobs to get through a slow

time.I’ve suggested a similar tactic to

one of my clients who has come underattack by large competitors who aretrying to capture the authorized colli-sion repair status he has enjoyed formany years. At this point he needs aguerilla strategy to counter the bigshop warfare advantage he faces fromcompetitors who employ top profes-sional marketing attack dogs. The ap-proach I’ve suggested is an expandedversion of the college parking lot so-licitations. I described this briefly inan article in 2008, but the economicclimate today calls for a more power-ful version of this guerilla tactic.

The key to the success of thestrategy is numbers. Sales organiza-tions like Amway would call it “feeton the street.” Multi-level marketingprograms depend on large numbers ofsales people making thousands ofsmall sales. Ironically the tough econ-

omy makes it possible for a smallbody shop to recruit one or two dozenfairly good “bird dog” sales people tobe out hustling jobs. Dealerships andcompeting body shops have gone outof business in many areas, leaving nu-merous collision-repair trained peopleout of work. It’s not likely these peo-ple would work for straight commis-sion under normal circumstances butin this economy any additional in-come would be welcome.

I’ve found the main objection toimplementing a program like this isthe fear of being represented by indi-viduals whose appearance or de-meanor would reflect badly on theimage of the shop. During affluenttimes applicants for this kind of non-salary work might be social dropoutsor even homeless types, but the ranksof the unemployed today encompassthe full spectrum of skills and abili-ties. The shop owner can be in a posi-

tion to pick and choose from higherquality prospects.

Another concern is liability. Awell-designed independent contractoragreement is essential to stipulate thatthe “bird dog” is merely solicitingprospects to come in to the shop for anactual estimate and not empowered tomake any firm offer or contract for theshop.

With the shop thus protectedfrom liability, it’s now necessary toprotect your “bird dog” from ex-ploitation or unfair conflicts. The bestprotection is a carefully constructedestimate/business card that specifiesthe fact that the estimate is not a firmoffer. The card must also contain aunique code number for the “birddog” so he or she will get propercredit for the job if it comes through.

It’s also essential to create anotherlevel of commission protection. Notevery prospective customer will bring


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‘Bird Dogging’—Guerilla Tactics for Small Body Shops

On Creative Marketingwith Thomas Franklin

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in the estimate card with the code. Tobe certain the right person gets credit,it’s best to create specific territories.Since the best areas to canvas for dam-aged vehicles are large parking lots,specific malls, college lots, departmentstore and grocery store lots, theseshould each be assigned to a definiteindividual. It then becomes the re-sponsibility of the shop front-desk per-son or estimator to ask where thecustomer learned of the shop and tocarefully note the answer to promptproper credit for the referral source.

Once a crew of reliable “birddogs” has been assembled, it’s neces-sary to train them on writing the roughestimates they will be placing on dam-aged vehicles. A cheat sheet with threelevels of fender damage, bumper

damage, hood and other outer paneldamage pricing should provide the“bird dog” with the ability to quicklydecide if a damaged fender calls for alow-ball economy model price, a mid-range price, or a high-end vehicleprice. Keeping in mind that the cardclearly states this is an approximationand not a firm quotation, the real goalis to get the prospective customer tocome in for a real estimate.

In addition to the obvious benefitof bringing in jobs, there is the long-term possibility that each new cus-tomer will become a customer for life.And there is the added possibility thata “bird dog” will find sufficient satis-faction in the job to continue workingfor the shop full-time, or just continueworking in the industry.


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Obama to Set $250 Million Loan for Ford ExportsPresident Barack Obama will an-nounce a $250 million loan guaran-tee August 5 to finance Ford MotorCo. exports, as he defends his ad-ministration’s bailout of the U.S.auto industry, according to a WhiteHouse statement and reports made byBloomberg.

Obama will tour an automobilefactory in Chicago, where Dearborn,Michigan-based Ford, the only Big 3U.S. automaker that didn’t take bailoutmoney, will begin assembling the new2011 Explorer later this year.

Ford is spending about $400 mil-lion to add 1,200 jobs to build the Ex-plorer sport-utility vehicle. Thefactory Obama will tour is already hir-ing new workers at an entry-levelwage of about $14 an hour, under a

two-tier wage system that starts atabout half the amount paid to hourlyproduction workers hired previously.Obama will highlight potential foreignsales of the Explorer as helping theU.S. meet his goal of doubling exportsover the next five years, the statementsaid.

The president will also announcethe Export-Import Bank’s $250 mil-lion loan guarantee, which will fi-nance $3.1 billion of exports toCanada and Mexico of more than200,000 U.S.-made vehicles, includ-ing Explorers, the statement said.

Ford is redesigning the Explorer,once the best-selling SUV in the U.S.,on a chassis used for the Taurus sedan.Explorer sales in the U.S. slid 33 per-cent to 52,190 last year.

Ford Crash AvoidanceTechnologyFord Motor Company’s researchers aredeveloping advanced crash avoidancesystems that use wireless and GPS tech-nologies to help vehicles communicatewith each other in traffic and help driv-ers avoid or mitigate accidents.

Ford’s Automatic Braking Inter-section Collision Avoidance System(ABICAS) uses radio-based wirelesssensors, GPS and navigation informa-tion to detect the relative location ofother radio-equipped test vehicles. Thesystem is being designed to warn driv-ers of imminent side-impact collisionsand automatically activate the brakes ifnecessary to avoid or minimize thedamage caused by collisions.

ABICAS is enabled by wirelessvehicle-to-vehicle communications,and works in conjunction with radar-and camera-based driver assist fea-tures, such as adaptive cruise controland collision warning with brake sup-port, which are available on many Fordvehicles.

While radar and camera sensorscan detect other vehicles ahead and be-hind a vehicle, radio-based wirelesssensors give vehicles a 360-degree“view.” Information from these varioussensors is combined with engineeringalgorithms to ensure the validity of animminent collision before automati-cally activating the vehicle’s brakes.

When a vehicle is equipped witha dedicated short-range wireless radio,it can communicate with similarlyequipped vehicles, and use the sharedinformation in concert with its safetysystems.

According to the NHTSA, 40 per-cent of all traffic accidents occur in in-tersections where side-impact collisionsare most common.

For more information please visitwww.ford.com.

www.autobodynews.comwww.autobodynews.com

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In March of this year, Washington Statebecame the first state to legislativelyphase out the use of copper in car andtruck brake pads. Washington legisla-tion bans brake pads containing morethan trace amounts of cadmium,chromium, asbestos, lead and mercury,starting in 2014. Initially, it will limit theuse of copper in brakes to a maximumof five percent by model year 2021.

Studies show that braking fric-tion releases minute copper particlesthat fall onto the road and are eventu-ally washed into rivers, where envi-ronmentalists say the metal poses ahazard to marine life, especially Cohosalmon because it intereferes withtheir sense of smell.

Vehicle brake pads manufactur-ers use a variety of ingredients, in-cluding copper, in formulating brakepads and each vehicle stop wears offa tiny amount of brake pad material.Studies conducted in South San Fran-cisco Bay identified vehicle brake padwear debris as a significant source ofcopper in urban runoff.

In 1998, the Brake Pad Partner-ship, a collaborative group of brakemanufacturers, environmentalists,storm water management entities andregulators, came together to studybrake pad wear debris. The BrakeManufacturers Council (BMC) and itsmembers agreed to introduce refor-mulated products within five years ifthe technical studies indicated thatcopper in brake pads was contributingsignificantly to water quality impair-ment. In late 2007, the partnership

completed a series of interlinked lab-oratory, environmental monitoringand environmental modeling studiesthat indicated that brake pads are asubstantial contributor to copper inrunoff to the San Francisco Bay.

“It was a balanced approach, bal-ancing the needs of our consumers andenvironmental concerns,” said CurtAugustine, policy director for the Al-liance of Automobile Manufacturers,a trade group of 11 manufacturers, in-cluding Ford, Chrysler and Toyota.

Many brake pads are made ofsteel, brass and copper fibers—mate-rials designed to create friction anddraw off heat. Some also contain ce-ramics, Kevlar and other nonmetalliccompounds. Brake pads contain asmuch as 25% copper, a metal used be-cause it is good at dissipating heat,Augustine said. Heavier and high-per-formance vehicles tend to have morecopper, but many cars already containless than 5 percent, he said.

Copper adds structural integrity tothe friction material and creates fric-tion. The metal also has properties thathelp prevent brakes from squeakingand shuddering, over a wide range oftemperatures and driving conditions.

The industry believes it can pro-duce a safe and reasonably priced brakepad without copper, said Terry Hef-felfinger, director of product engineer-ing forAffinia Global Brake & Chassis,a major brake maker. One alternativemay be ceramic brake pads, which havegrown in popularity in recent years.

However, some brake pad mak-

ers say there is no other material thatcan easily substitute for copper and areplacement would likely require acombination of components.

“We are worried that we won’t beable to provide reduced copper padsby the proposed deadline,” said BobPeters, chief engineer at AkebonoBrake Corp., which supplies brakepads to Ford, Chevrolet and GM. Ake-bono has been studying other materi-als that could be used in their pads.

There are two major types ofbrake pads. “Organic” ones includecopper; the expensive semi-metallicpads do not contain copper and areusually only used in high-perfor-mance cars such as Porsches. About85% of cars have brake pads madewith copper, to prevent brakes fromoverheating and reduces squeaking.

Copper is a major source of waterpollution because it is present in somany products, including plumbing,paint and building materials. A studyby the nonprofit Sustainable Conser-vation found that one-third of 530,000pounds of copper released fromhuman activity in the San FranciscoBay watershed in 2003 came from au-tomobile brake pads.

Similarly, state ecology officialsin Washington estimate 70,000 to318,000 pounds of copper are releasedinto Puget Sound each year, withabout one-third coming from vehicles.

Copper replaced asbestos as a keyingredient in brake pads in the early1990s after asbestos was banned as ahealth danger. Though a federal appeals

court overturned part of that ban in 1991,manufacturers continued to use copper.

California SB 346California is likely to be next due to SB346, introduced in 2009 by Sen. Chris-tine Kehoe (D-San Diego). Kehoe’s billwould eliminate copper in a vehiclebrake pads and place limits, beginningin 2014, on the use of lead, mercuryand asbestos in vehicle brake pads.

“By banning the use of copper invehicle brake pads, California has theopportunity to again lead the nation inprotecting our environment,” Kehoesaid in 2009. “This bill would be amajor achievement toward removinga significant amount of toxic chemi-cals found in brake pads that other-wise find their way into the ocean andour watersheds.”

Proponents of the bill claim thelegislation can serve as a template forother states to follow to reduce thelevels of copper in streams, lakes andcreeks. Unlike the failed attempt bythe Federal government to remove as-bestos from brake pads, this initiativeis being carried out at the state level.● Brake pads can contain as much astwenty-five percent copper;● Brake pad wear debris may contributeup to forty percent of the copper that en-ters the Bay through storm drains;● Copper content can vary from manu-facturer to manufacturer and among padsmade by the same manufacturer; and● Low-copper and no-copper brakepads are available for at least somemodels of cars.

Copper in Brake Pads Restricted in Washington State, California Next?

New Laws on Louisiana’s Books Include Tougher Penalties for TextingMore than 650 new laws took effect inLouisiana August 16, including revi-sions to existing statutes and arcane ad-justments of insurance and health careregulations, According to reports madeby Insurance Journal.

Perhaps the most attention-grab-bing changes is the strengthening ofLouisiana’s ban on text messagingwhile driving.

The ban is becoming a primaryoffense, meaning police officers canstop a driver for this traffic viola-tion without needing another rea-son.

Sgt. Markus Smith, withLouisiana State Police, said troopersare first going to focus their efforts onmaking sure people understand theycan be ticketed for texting behind the

wheel — rather than immediately writ-ing a ream of citations.

“We’re going to make sure thepublic is fully aware about the prob-lems of distracted driving and knowthat it’s a primary offense,” Smith said.

“We’re not going to go out thereto write a bunch of tickets. But if it’s ablatant offense that’s a danger to thepublic, we’re going to write a ticket.”

Penalties for sending text mes-sages while behind the wheel — withan exception for emergencies — canreach up to $200 for the first offenseand $500 for subsequent offenses.

Minors 17 and under also can bestopped and cited simply for using acell phone, as that state ban also waselevated to a primary offense thisweek.


“Dealer wholesale parts sales (me-chanical and body parts redistribu-tion) plunged nearly one-fifth during2009 compared to the previous year.As a result, Dealer 2009 wholesaleparts volume was over $2.5 billionlower than five years earlier.”

“Combining lower wholesaleDealer business with sinking bayparts sales and reduced Dealercounter parts volume, total 2009Dealer parts sales fell more than $6billion at retail level. This dramaticsales reduction in Dealer parts is cre-ating unprecedented opportunities formanufacturers, distributors, retailers,and installers of aftermarket prod-ucts.”

Get a Competitive EdgeFor complete analysis of Dealer serv-ice bay parts volume, see the just re-leased 2010 AAIA Factbook & LangAnnual.

Dealer Wholesale Parts DeclineThe unprecedented plunge in Dealerwholesale parts (mechanical and

body) sales reflects an array of mar-ket conditions.

In addition to Dealer closingsand leaner Dealer parts inventories,which have reduced availability ofOE parts in many markets, OE-Sup-plier brands are being aggressivelymarketed and the perceptions of in-stallers regarding OE-Supplier brandsvis-à-vis OE-Dealer brands arechanging, particularly in the foreignvehicle aftermarket.

Big Wholesale DropAfter Dealers expanded their 2007and 2008 wholesale parts volume atan average 3.7% annual pace, Dealer2009 wholesale parts sales suddenlyplunged over $2.6 billion, an un-precedented 19% reduction.

As a result, Dealer 2009 whole-sale sales fell more than 22% below2004 levels.

Three Reasons for Wholesale Fall-OffThere are three primary reasons forthe sudden drop in 2009 Dealerwholesale parts volume.

First, approximately 1,500 Deal-ers closed or converted to used-caroutlets with bays during 2009. As aresult, there was a sharp cut-back inDealer locations wholesaling parts toindependent installers.

Second, many Dealers reducedparts inventories in order to controlexpenses, thereby limiting their abil-ity to fill parts requests by independ-ent installers.

Third, there is the growing suc-cess of foreign parts distributors(Worldpac, IMC, and others) in con-verting installers, particularly ForeignSpecialists, to purchase OE-supplierand other foreign brands in place ofDealer OE-brands.

OE-Supplier PartsThe growing availability of foreignOE-supplier brands and the superiordelivery and electronic ordering ca-pabilities of Worldpac and others toprovide these brands to installers(who often must wait much longer forDealer delivery of OE parts) haschanged the buying habits of many

independent installers in the foreignvehicle sector.

Reduction of Dealer partsDealer 2009 parts volume also fellsignificantly in terms of Dealer bayreplacement and counter sales.

$6 Billion Dealer Parts ReductionAcross all segments of Dealer partssales and installation, there was morethan a $6 billion drop in 2009 partsvolume at user-price.

Unprecedented OpportunitiesThe historic drop in Dealer parts salesacross a wide array of segments—wholesale redistribution, bay instal-lation, counter sales, etc.—providesunprecedented opportunities for man-ufacturers, distributors, retailers, andinstallers of aftermarket products tofill the market gap resulting from thefaltering performance of Dealers.

‘From Aftermarket Insight™ byJim Lang, President of Lang Market-ing Resources, Inc.,www.langmarketing.com.’

2009 Dealer Wholesale Parts Down More than 19% from ‘08


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One of my regular customers broughthis adult son into the shop the otherday. It was right at opening time andthe good old dad made it a point to tellhis son, “Gonzo, probably hasn’t hadhis coffee yet so go easy on the oldguy.”

He was right about the coffee,but that still didn’t prepare me for thestory I was about to hear.

The story started sometime ear-lier, about two years ago… apparentlyI changed the fuel pump on the son’scar back then. The owner decided hisgas mileage had dropped consider-ably. To the point that he was con-cerned and very upset that there wasobviously something that I had donewrong to cause it. I guess it had beengrating on him for two years.

He insisted that the new fuelpump was to blame because he alwaystracked his mileage by way of his tripodometer. Before the new fuel pumphe would get close to 400 miles pertank. His accuracy was noted on his lit-tle log book and showed how muchgas he would refill his tank with. It wasalways around 23 gallons and never adrop more than 23 gallons. But nowhis tank was holding 26 gallons.

His question to me was, “So,where is the other three gallonsgoing?” I had to laugh. I’ve changeda lot of fuel pumps but I never havehad anyone come in and tell me thatthe tank suddenly holds more fuelthan before.

My guess was that his originalgas tank sending unit was probably in-accurate and that was the discrepancy.

“I’m pretty sure your gas tankhasn’t increased in volume since thefuel pump has been changed. I wouldimagine you’re probably mistaken asto how much your tank actuallyholds,” I told him as I reached for mycoffee.

Nope, he wasn’t buying that an-swer. He knew how much his gas tankheld and he knew I was the cause ofhis three missing gallons. What hewanted was for me to find out why hisgas mileage has decreased so much.

I tried to explain it to him, but hewas very, very sure he was correctand I wasn’t listening to what he wassaying. He was getting quite loud andbelligerent over the whole matter.Poor old dad just sat there with asmirk on his face. I kinda figured dadhad already had enough of his boy’sattitude and figured old Gonzo wasgoing to straighten him out. (This isgoing to take a lot more coffee…)

The aggravated son then beganto tell me how good a mechanic hewas, because he had rebuilt a few mo-tors in the past so he knew what hewas doing under a hood. (Note: put-ting parts together does not a me-chanic make. That’s solving puzzlesand it doesn’t need a mechanic.)

Then he added to his story withthe usual… “I went to one of thoseparts stores that will read codes foryou. They said the reason for thecheck engine light was because of abad gas cap.”

He was grasping at possible rea-sons why his gas mileage haddropped so much.

What gets me is how somethingas important as the service light isn’tbrought up into the conversation untilafter you have told me how good atech you are and that you have alreadymade the decision that I was to blame.(I’m going to need more coffee.)

So at this point, we have a serv-ice light on, we have a supposed lossof fuel economy, and I’m sure there ismore… there is always more… I hadto ask, “Anything else?”

On occasions the ABS lightcomes on. He had that checked too.This time he consulted the ever faith-ful Internet. He tells me in a loudforceful voice, as if I couldn’t hearanything he was saying, “That alwaysmeans it’s time to rebuild the ABScontroller.”

Oh yeah, I do that every day. Itake the controllers apart and removethe epoxy sealer over the circuitboards and remove the affected com-ponents on the board and then resealthe whole thing back together. All thisbefore a full cup of coffee? It’s reallytoo early to absorb this kind of daz-zling technical information.

After dad and son dropped thetruck off, I went straight to the glovebox. I checked the owner’s manual asto how much capacity the fuel tankheld. It had it in big bold letters: 26gallon capacity, not the 23 that he hadlogged so meticulously.

While I had the truck in the shopI checked the tune-up parts and thefilters. All looked great. The nextthing was to tackle the check enginelight. Yes, there was a code. A code

that might lower gas mileage? Sort of,but not by three gallons, that’s morethan 11%, right?

It was the evap solenoid valvecode, p0449. After doing the test onthe valve it turned out the valve was-n’t responding to the PCM com-mands. A new evap solenoid valvesolved the problem. As far as theABS? Nothing; not a thing; no codes;no history codes, and the system wasworking normally.

A drive test showed no problemsand I gave him the benefit of thedoubt that he may have an intermit-tent ABS controller problem… how-ever when I gave him the option ofleaving it alone or changing it… heleft it alone.

After all the phone calls weremade and arrived to pick up his truckthere was never any mention of the al-leged missing three gallons or the factthat it was merely the original fuelsender that was reading improperlyall this time. Or the fact that the loosegas cap had nothing to do with theservice light this time around.

I guess when you’re wrong youdon’t have to admit it. That is, whenyou’re the customer. But you can bedarn sure if the mechanic is wrong,everyone will know about it, andsomebody is going to have to apolo-gize.

I apologize for being the me-chanic in this story and I guess Ishould apologize for one morething… Writing in BIG letters on hisinvoice… YOUR TANK HOLDS 26GALLONS! !

Three Gallons of Troublewith Gonzo Weaver

Gonzo’s Toolbox This is a new story by Scott “Gonzo” Weaver as posted on his website,www.gonzostoolbox.com. See his book “Hey Look! I Found The LooseNut”, which provides a Good Laugh for Mechanics of Any Age. The bookis available at amazon.com. Contact Gonzo at [email protected]

GMAwaits Fuel Ratings onVoltGM is anxiously awaiting how thegovernment will rate the fuel economyon its extended-range Chevrolet Volt,which goes on sale late this year, Ac-cording to reports made by the DetroitNews.

GM said it is still in talks with theEPA about the final fuel economy rat-ings for the vehicle that will run onboth battery power and a gasoline en-gine.

The automaker expects a finalrating later this year, before the Voltgoes on sale.

GM said last summer that it ex-pected to label the Volt with a 230 mpgcity rating and even launched a web-site touting that number.

But Larry Nitz, GM’s executivedirector for hybrid and electric power-train engineering, said that the com-pany no longer is planning on thatfigure.

"It will never show up on thelabel," Nitz told reporters on the side-lines of the Center for Automotive Re-search’s Management BriefingSeminars annual meeting.

GM has submitted a confidentialrating proposal to the EPA, but Nitzdeclined to disclose it.

"The (EPA) is not close to final-izing the label. They say the end of theyear, but that’s the general label. Whatthey’ve agreed to is to work with us ona specific label" for the Volt, Nitz said.

The EPA said it may release adraft proposal this month on calculat-ing plug-in electric vehicle fuel econ-omy ratings, but might not finalize ituntil year’s end.

GM wants to make sure drivers

get the most out of the vehicle, takingfull advantage of its electric power.

The Volt will get up to 40 miles ona single battery charge, and a gasolineengine that generates electricity adds an-other 300 miles of range to the vehicle.

The vehicle’s $41,000 price tagraised some eyebrows at a panel dis-cussion July 27.

Nitz noted that GM will expandproduction volume in 2012 from30,000 to 45,000 Volt vehicles.

For more information please visitgm-volt.com.


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Sherwin-Williams Expands Online Training OpportunitiesSherwin-Williams Automotive Fin-ishes added a number of new modulesto its eLearning site of online interac-tive training suites starting August 3.

Designed for collision facilityowners, managers and painting pro-fessionals, its new Standard Operat-ing Procedures online courses providea flexible, convenient learning venue.The courses also better prepare colli-sion repair professionals for future,hands- on training at one of SWAF’sregional training centers.

“Our new eLearning StandardOperating Procedures training is de-signed to enhance the product, appli-cations and process training held in allof our training facilities in NorthAmerica,” said Rod Habel, Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes man-ager of training operations.

“These eLearning courses com-plement our present online curriculumand come complete with testing and aprintable certificate upon completingall provided modules.”

In particular, the latest eLearningmodules include a focus on streamlin-ing the shop process, improving qual-ity and beginning the lean journey.

These classes can then be fol-lowed up by any number of othertraining programs Sherwin-Williams

offers, including painter certifica-tion, AWX waterborne systems,color adjustment and blending, fleetrefinishing, OEM certification train-ing, accurate estimating and work-shop efficiency.

Habel noted that many of thenew classes directly relate to Sherwin-Williams’ philosophy of helping cus-tomers through ‘lean thinking’ byproviding training that introducesconcepts supporting sustainable prac-tices.

This, in turn, increases produc-tivity while minimizing or often elim-inating waste.

He added that the new eLearn-ing modules also set the stage formore intense, hands- on training onthe company’s breakthrough AWXwaterborne coatings technology andits new Express Scratch Repair sys-tem.

The latter is designed to helpshops increase profits through add-onwork and minor repairs easily accom-plished with its HP Process RefinishSystem and revolutionary air-dry,HPC 15 Clearcoat Technology.

For more information visit thetraining section at:www.sherwin-automotive.com or call1-800-SWULTRA (1-800-798-5872).

Toyota Pushes Back U.S. Prius Production by YearsToyota Motor Corp announed July 27plans to pushed back building its Priusin the United States by as much as sixyears, with a top executive sayingU.S. production is likely to start onlywhen the best-selling hybrid is re-modeled, according to reports madeby Reuters.

Toyota had previously planned toproduce the Prius at its new Missis-sippi plant but had put those plans onhold indefinitely as the financial cri-sis hit demand.

In June, Toyota said it to woulddrop the Prius all together and insteadbuild the Corolla sedan in Mississippiafter local production of that modelended with the closure of a Californiafactory formerly co-owned with Gen-eral Motors Co .

"The main components for thePrius such as the motor and batteryare not mature enough for local pro-duction," Executive Vice PresidentAtsushi Niimi told reporters inTokyo.

Niimi, who oversees productionas well as regional operations inNorth America and China for Toyota,said the company would decide in duecourse where in the United States itwould make the fourth-generationPrius, which is expected around 2016.

A more near-term concern wasthe pace of recovery in the U.S. mar-ket, which he said would likely beslow.

"If you look at unemployment,housing, and other economic indica-tors there's not much good news. Ithink it will take time for the marketto recover," he said, adding he did notshare views that the U.S. market couldrecover to above 12 million units nextyear or to 14-15 million in 2012.

A slower-than-expected pickupin U.S. car sales has become a majorworry for Japan's top automakers,which traditionally make the lion'sshare of their profits in North Amer-ica.

Toyota also faces the urgent taskof cutting costs and boosting manu-facturing efficiencies in Japan, whereit has enough facilities to build 3.9million vehicles annually, comparedwith actual output of 3.2 million lastyear.

Toyota, the world's biggest au-tomaker, has said it is aiming to makeits domestic factory lines more flexi-ble and introduce other changes to beable to break even at a dollar rate of90 yen and capacity utilization of 70percent, equivalent to daily produc-tion of 12,000 units.


California Insurance CommissionerSteve Poizner is considering a recentcourt decision a victory for con-sumers, as a lawsuit that attempted tostop the Commissioner from protect-ing Californians in connection withthe Executive Life Insurance Co. wasdismissed by the Court, according toreports made by Insurance Journal.

Last year, the Commissioner de-nied a request for permission to buy aCalifornia insurance company from aforeign company whose owner is thedefendant in a multi-billion dollarlawsuit brought by CommissionerPoizner.

The sale would have siphonedmoney out of the United States whilea federal court is in the process of de-termining how much that owner,French company Artemis S.A., oughtto pay in compensation for previousfraud, according to the Commissioner.The proposed seller in the transaction,Artemis subsidiary Aurora S.A., sub-sequently sued the Commissioner fordenying the transaction. A court re-jected that lawsuit.

“It’s my job to protect policy-

holders, and when I saw the harm thistransaction could cause to former Ex-ecutive Life Insurance Co. policy-holders, I refused to allow it,” saidCommissioner Poizner.

San Francisco Superior CourtJudge Charlotte Woolard rejectedthe lawsuit against Insurance Com-missioner Steve Poizner, ruling thatCommissioner Poizner acted properlywhen he denied approval of a saletransaction that had the potential tocause harm to former policyholders ofExecutive Life Insurance Co.

The suit is part of the on-goingfallout resulting from the failure ofExecutive Life in 1991 and the mas-sive fraud that was committed byFrench companies and companiesowned by the French government inthe subsequent insolvency proceed-ing.

The lawsuit concerned an attemptby Reassure America Life InsuranceCo., a subsidiary of insurance giantSwiss Re, to purchase Aurora Na-tional Life Assurance Co. Aurora Na-tional is the life insurance companythat was set up in 1992 to take over in-

surance policies from the insolventExecutive Life.

When it was established in 1992,Aurora National was purportedlyowned by a consortium of French andSwiss companies. In 1999, the Com-missioner learned that the ownershipof Aurora National was a fraud andthe true owner was a French govern-ment-owned bank, in violation of Cal-ifornia and federal law.

The Commissioner sued in fed-eral court in Los Angeles and recov-ered more than $700 million to datefor former Executive Life policyhold-ers. The lawsuit is still pendingagainst one of the defendants, Frenchcompany Artemis S.A.

While the Commissioner’s fraudlawsuit is pending against Artemis,Reassure America filed for permissionto buy Aurora National from AuroraS.A. The timing of the sale would getArtemis’s share of the sale money toFrance, out of the reach of the Com-missioner before he could obtain ajudgment against Artemis in federalcourt. Artemis’ share of the sale willbe paid to former Executive Life pol-

icyholders if the Commissioner winshis suit against Artemis.

The Commissioner denied the ap-plication on the grounds that the salewould harm former Executive Lifepolicyholders and Reassure Americademonstrated a lack of integrity in at-tempting to conclude the sale now,when it knew that harm would occurto its own policyholders.

Judge Woolard agreed, ruling thatit was not an abuse of discretion forthe Commissioner to consider the in-terests of Executive Life policyhold-ers in his decision.


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VW Passat Probed for Fire RiskAccording to Bloomberg, Volkswa-gen AG Passat cars are being investi-gated by the NHTSA for fires in theengine compartment that may be re-lated to ignition-coil failures.

Passat cars for model years 2002and 2003 have been the subject of 10reports of fires and six complaints ofcoil failures that didn’t cause a fire,the NHTSA said on its website.

Drivers reported that the check-engine or other dashboard lights wereilluminated before fires. The investi-gation covers almost 200,000 cars.

Len’s Auto Body Inc. is in Oceanside,CA—the hometown of AutobodyNews. It was founded in 1985 and hasgrown to become one of the largestand most prominent body shops inSan Diego’s North County region.

The shop facility is 38,000 squarefeet and the property is around 86,000square feet. Len’s employs about 30employees including 4 Estimators, 8

auto body technicians, 6 Apprentices,2 Painters, 3 Prep, 2 Detail, 1 ASECertified Mechanic, 1 Parts Manager,1 Production Manager and a completeoffice staff. Len’s technicians are allI-CAR Gold Class Certified and their

mechanics are ASECertified.

Len’s sees around200 cars per monthand is able to grossabout $6 million peryear for all opera-tions. Len Verheyenand his wife, Anne,have been runningthe business as afamily team since itsfounding.

Verheyen was ableto learn about the au-

tomotive industry from doing bodywork with his dad in Sydney, Australiain the 1960s. Anne handles the cus-tomer service and insurance connec-

tions for the business.In 2002 the shop moved from

their original location in Oceanside to

a new building about 2 blocksaway that Verheyen had de-signed himself.

The shop area is split withan area separate from the re-pair bays for paintingequipped with two downdraftspray booths and oneBlowTherm Infrared paintbaking system. Len’s is spray-ing Spies-Hecker waterbornepaint and clearcoat in order tobe VOC-compliant in Califor-nia. The facility also has anupstairs area complete withcompany board room and aseparate meeting area wheretraining classes can be held.

When the new shop wasbuilt, Verheyen looked to ProSpot Quality Welding Sys-tems to hook up the shops

electrical welding needs.“We chose Pro Spot mainly because


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The Society of Collision Repair Spe-cialists (SCRS) announced August16 the approach of its fifth annualAffiliate Leadership Conference onWednesday and Thursday, Septem-ber 22 and 23 at the Gulf States Toy-ota (GST) Training Center inLewisville, Texas. The modern,state-of-the-art facility will providea stimulating backdrop for the opendiscussion of activities, successesand challenges that is the confer-ence’s hallmark.

“Our affiliate ranks recentlyhave grown at an accelerated rate andwe expect event participation to in-crease significantly as a result,” saysSCRS Chairman Barry Dorn. “It’sexciting, because for the first timemany collision repair professionalswill get to witness the effectivestrategies that are forged whenSCRS’ national perspective intermin-gles with the local, grass roots focusof the affiliates.”

The “ground level” industry viewof the affiliates forms the bedrockupon which SCRS is formed andkeeps the organization attuned tomembership needs. The AffiliateLeadership Conference is perhaps theultimate reflection of this aspect ofSCRS.

Attendees gain exposure to,and learn from the experience of,their affiliate peers in other statesas does SCRS. Local initiativesoften contribute to the formation ofsolutions that can be applied else-where, including on the nationallevel.

“The conference features col-lective insight to address issuesyou won’t find anywhere else,and we are grateful to have theopportunity to foster it,” saysSCRS Executive Director AaronSchulenburg. “Our affiliates andthe thousands of businesses that

support them want workable solu-tions to trying issues.

The Affiliate Leadership Con-ference provides the content, con-text and analysis to provide thoseanswers through candid discussionbred from a forum structuredspecifically for our affiliate associ-ations.”

The conference will maintain asimilar proven format to previousyears, with the first day featuring a fo-cused review from each association inattendance. Local market issues andsuccessful approaches to resolvingthose issues will be reviewed and an-alyzed through candid peer discus-sion.

Day two will feature updatesfrom SCRS on its most recent nationallevel activity, targeted discussions onprevailing industry issues, and a con-versation on how SCRS can betterhelp assist the collision repair indus-try. Toyota will make a presentationon Auto PartsBridge™, an electronicparts ordering system that allows bodyshops to send parts orders to Toyotadealers through a Web-based applica-tion.

In addition, CEICA ExecutiveDirector Fred Iantourno will join thegroup to share content from theCEICA Implementation Conferencebeing held the two days preceding theSCRS conference.

“This dynamic forum for experi-enced affiliate leadership generates anincredible amount of useful contentover the course of two days,” addsSchulenburg. “I advise anyone thathasn’t previously attended to bring apen and the biggest notepad you canfind-you will be taking a lot ofnotes!”

For information about the up-coming Affiliate Leadership Con-ference, please contact ExecutiveDirector Aaron Schulenburg at(302) 423-3537 or via e-mail [email protected]. You may also con-tact the SCRS administration officeat (877) 841-0660 or via e-mail [email protected].


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Collision Repair Association of Cali-forniaJuly 28, 2010

The Honorable Gloria NegreteMcLeod , SenatorRoom 2059 , State Capitol,Sacramento, CA 95814

Re: Oppose Unless Amend to SB 427

Dear Senator Negrete McLeod:

The Collision Repair Association ofCalifornia wants to reaffirm its oppo-sition to SB427 as currently written.As stated in our testimony at hearingwe could and would support the por-tion of the bill that relates to therestoration of deployed air bags in factwe feel that this provision shouldapply to all elements of the supple-mental restraint system not just airbags. We would also recommend thatthe bill be modified to include personsengaged in the reconstruction of sal-vaged vehicles as this is where thesetypes of negligent repairs commonlyoccur.

The changes proposed tocurrent statutes withinSB427 we find to betroubling. The BillAnalysis states thatthe purpose of thebill is to is to limitpart switching.We would submitthat the incidenceof part switchingin California by re-pair facilities is farfrom a common oc-currence ,as presented inthe Analysis and at hearing.This activity was addressed by anaggressive enforcement program initi-ated by the Bureau of Automotive Re-pair. The Chief of the Bureau ofAutomotive Repair testified at a recenthearing that the repair fraud rate wasless than 2%. A number not reflectiveof an industry out of control.

SB 427 as proposed provides fora redefinition of aftermarket partwithin Section 9875 of the Businessand Professions Code, to mean a re-placement for any crash part. Thischange only serves to confuse the con-sumer by defining high quality origi-nal equipment manufacturer parts asaftermarket. This definition will actu-ally facilitate the very conduct that theproposal is proposing to stop. The de-ception will be on the part of the in-surers not the repairers. Insurers willbe able to reference all crash parts asaftermarket and base settlement offerson the cost of these substandard imita-tion parts.

This change will allow the insurer topart switch, to short pay claims at theconsumers expense. To repair the ve-hicle for the settlement amount the re-pair facility will be forced to utilize thelesser quality parts during the repairprocess. The only benefactors of thischange are the insurers and manufac-turers of the substandard offshoreparts, not the consumer and not the re-pair facility.

There appears to be a draftingerror in the proposed text as there istwo versions of 9884.8 both identifiedas amendments however only one hasthe proposed amended language. Thechanges proposed to B&P Section9884.8 (a) adding the term final repairinvoice will cause a great deal of con-fusion and provide an opportunity forunscrupulous repair dealers to facili-tate conduct which currently is unlaw-ful. Currently repairs are authorizedvia an estimate and upon completionthe shop presents the customer with aninvoice for the agreed upon cost. Verysimple and straight forward. The pro-posed language would allow shops toclaim that documents provided werenot the final invoice but a preliminary

document. Confusion is addedby proposals within

9884.9(a) (1) whichreferences notations

being made on therepair invoice, thisby definition is asa different docu-ment than theproposed final in-voice.Within B&P Sec-

tion 9884.8(a) , thechange to the lan-

guage from parts sup-plied to parts installed

presumes that all parts suppliedduring the repair process are installedduring the repair process. This is nota valid assumption many productsthat support the repair process are notinstalled on the vehicle. Current lawsand regulations require all itemscharged for to be itemized on the in-voice. In fact if the items are notitemized they are not considered partsand cannot be charged for. Items thatare commonly supplied but not in-stalled, would include but not be lim-ited to, cleaners, abrasives surfaceprotection items and even Brake,Lamp and Smog Certificates.

The disclaimer proposed in Sec-tion 9884.8(b) B&P, is of concern inthat it serves no purpose other thanto paint the repair facility in a nega-tive light a condition that isn’t com-mensurate with the state of theindustry in California . Every AutoRepair Dealer in California is re-

CRAWrites in Opposition to SB427 Unless Amended

See CRAOpposition to SB427, Page 41


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Toyota Announces Recall For AvalonsToyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., July29 announced that it intends to con-duct a voluntary safety recall involv-ing approximately 373,0002000-2004 Model Year Toyota Aval-ons sold in the United States to ad-dress the possibility that the vehicle’ssteering lock bar could break undercertain conditions. No other Toyota orLexus vehicles are involved in this re-call.

Because of improper casting ofthe steering lock bar, which is a com-ponent of the steering interlock sys-tem, there is a possibility that a minutecrack may develop on the surface.

Such a crack may expand over along period of repeated lock and un-lock operations, and eventually thelock bar could break. If this occurs,the interlock system may become dif-ficult to unlock when stationary.

If the vehicle while being drivenis steered to the right with sufficientlateral acceleration, a broken andloose lock bar may move toward thesteering shaft.

If the engagement hole in theshaft happens to line up at the specifictime the broken lock bar has moved,this could cause the steering wheellock bar to engage, locking the steer-ing wheel, and increasing the risk of

a crash.Steve St. Angelo, Toyota chief

quality officer for North America,said, “Toyota is continuing to workdiligently to address safety issueswherever they arise and to strengthenour global quality assurance opera-tions so that Toyota owners can beconfident in the safety of their vehi-cles.”

As part of the recall, Toyota willreplace the steering column bracketon involved vehicles, a procedure thattakes about two hours to complete de-pending on the dealer’s schedule.

Toyota will notify owners byfirst class mail beginning in late Au-gust 2010 to bring their vehicles totheir local Toyota dealer for replace-ment of the steering column bracketat no charge to the customer.

Detailed information and an-swers to questions are available tocustomers at www.toyota.com/recalland at the Toyota Customer Experi-ence Center at 1-800-331-4331.

Ex-GM Worker Accused of Stealing SecretsAccording to reports by the DetroitNews and the Associated Press, a for-mer General Motors engineer and herhusband were charged July 22 in fed-eral court with conspiring to sellstolen trade secrets about hybrid ve-hicles to Chinese automaker CheryAutomobile.

Shanshan “Shannon” Du, 49,and her husband, Yu Qin, 51, both ofTroy, stood mute before U.S. Magis-trate Judge MarkA. Randon on con-spiracy and other charges.

They had been under investiga-tion for years and were charged in2006 with destroying documents, butthe case was dropped while a broaderprobe continued.

The indictment says Du, whowas hired at GM in 2000 and workedin the company’s Advance Technol-ogy Vehicle Group, copied thousandsof pages of GM trade secrets onto aportable computer hard drive fivedays after accepting a buyout offer in2005. The indictment alleges the theftof secrets dates back to 2003.

GM estimates the value of thestolen documents at $40 million,according to the U.S. Attorney’s Of-fice.

By the summer of 2003, Qin,who had been an engineer with Troy-

based electrical systems and equip-ment maker Controlled Power Com-pany, was telling people he had a dealto provide hybrid technology to CheryAutomobile, the indictment says. Thecouple had established their own com-pany, Millennium Technology Inter-national, in 2000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kath-leen Corkren said GM was notifiedof the alleged theft by ControlledPower, which had discovered theportable hard drive containing GMdocuments. GM called the FBI. Theindictment contains details of e-mailexchanges offering GM data andplans.

Corkren said the indictment indi-cates none of the trade secrets actuallyreached Chery. The indictment alsotells about how the couple tried to dis-card shredded documents that hadbeen requested by a federal grand juryinvestigating the matter.

“Theft of trade secrets is a threatto national security,” AndrewArena,head of the FBI in Detroit, said in astatement.

The couple was arrested themorning of July 22. Randon set un-secured bond for each at $10,000and ordered them to not leave thethree-county area.

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of their reputation,” said Body ShopManager Alex Torres.

Pro Spot Quality Welding Sys-tems is also headquartered in Ocean-side, so the locality of their facilitieswas also a factor in Verheyen’s deci-sion to use their products.

Len’s has a complete Pro Spotoverhead welding system. The shop hastwo electrical lines running overhead

with drop-down cables so that techni-cians don’t have to run extension cordson the ground to get a Pro Spot electri-

cal welder at each bay. Torres also men-tioned that Pro Spot is the only weldingcompany to make overhead systems forauto body repair facilities.

“Pro Spot has been good to us;they have great service,” said Torres,adding that Pro Spot technicians comein about every 3 months to performroutine maintenance on all of theirwelding equipment. Pro Spot also of-fers 24/7 online technical supportthrough their website.

Pro Spot welders make it easy toset up the correct temperature specs

for any spot welding job;the weld current controlis all computerized. ProSpot welders are able tomonitor and adjust weldcurrents automaticallyduring a job. This allowstechnicians to duplicatefactory welds when re-pairing a vehicle.

Len’s also uses thePro Spot I4 Inverter SpotWelding System, whichis a liquid cooled welder

that can weld boron steel and highstrength alloys used in new model ve-hicles. Higher strength materials are

being used in a lot of newer cars mak-ing the I4 Inverter invaluable to thetechnicians at Len’s.

“The new liquid cooled i4 welderkeeps everything cool enough, thewelds don’t get brittle and it spotwelds quicker,” said Verheyen.

The I4 Inverter is relatively newto the shop; they have only beenworking with it for about 3 monthsand have already found it a valuabletool for their shop.

“Pro Spot is the leader for In-verter spot welders,” said Torres.Len’s has also installed the new ProSpot Aluminum Weld Station for re-pairing Aluminum.

In addition to body work and mechan-ical repair work, Len’s also offers tireservices for customers having other

work done after a collision.Len’s also offers an Enter-prise rental office on site,drive through estimationsas well as a lifetime laborwarranty on all work theydo. They offer towing andpick up service as well.Len’s is a DRP shop formost insurance companiesincluding Auto Club ofSouthern California,USAA, Allstate, Progres-sive, Mercury and many

more.For more information please visitlensautobody.com.

Len’s Auto Body Incorporated510 Jones RdOceanside, CA 92058(760) 757-7547

Pro Spot Quality Welding Systems2625A Temple Heights DrOceanside, CA 92056(760) 407-1414www.prospot.com


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quired to post a sign visible to thepublic apprising the consumer of theBureau of Automotive Repair and in-voice and estimate requirements.

In section 9884.9(a) B&P the pro-posed language also changes the sec-tion to reference parts installed thischange has the same consequence aspreviously stated in reference to Sec-tion 9884.8 B&P.

The fiscal costs associated withthe proposed changes appear to beoverlooked. As previously mentioned,all Automotive Repair Dealers in Cal-ifornia are required to post a sign asspecified in 3351.4 of the CaliforniaCode of Regulations. All these signswill require replacement or modifica-tion to comply to the requirement toreference parts installed rather thansupplied.

It is our observation that this pro-posal to change language from sup-plied to installed serves no benefit tothe consumer and enforcement of cur-rent statutory language has not suf-fered from referencing parts suppliedverses installed.Consumer would benefit from fur-ther regulation of the repair of sup-plemental restraint systems

especially if salvage reconstructionis addressed, however the only enti-ties to benefit from the other pro-posals to change the Business andProfessions Code are those personsthat are trying to confuse consumersinto thinking that all crash parts areaftermarket parts. Insurers whenpreparing settlement offers for con-sumers will be able to base those of-fers on part costs of imitationaftermarket parts and justify theshort payment by advising the con-sumer that may challenge their po-sition that the Legislature hasdetermined that all crash parts areaftermarket.

We support regulation and con-sumer protection . We however areunable to see any benefit to the con-sumer from any of the proposedchanges other than those relating tosupplemental restraint systems. Wewould welcome an opportunity todiscuss these issue further with you.Thank you for your attention to ourcomments.

Respectfully,

Allen Wood Executive Director CRA

Po Box 2891 Rancho Cordova, CA95471-2891 916-837-2362-Fax 530-20 7332 www.cra-ca.com


CRAOpposition to SB427

Owners Len and Anne Verheyen

Technician Salvador De La Cruz uses a Pro Spot electric welder


Len’s Auto Body

Can you tell us how your views on po-litical or consumer issues may havebeen shaped by those horrific experi-ences?

Personal tragedy has strengthened myresolve not to waste a day of my life.I’ve chosen public service as a way togive back. Simply put, I am drawn tofinding out the facts when the voice ofspecial interests attempt to drown outthe truth—this mindset has frequentlyput me in the position of protectingconsumers.

In 1986 you won a seat in the Califor-nia State Assembly. You were reelectedfive more times, the last as the nomi-nee of both the Democratic and Re-publican parties. In the Assembly youauthored more than 300 bills thatwere signed into law by both Demo-cratic and Republican Governors.

One of your key achievementswas passing the California FinancialPrivacy Act, which took effect in 2004and was called by Consumers Union“the strongest financial privacy legis-lation in the nation.”—Why were thefoundations of this act of such impor-tance to you?

Personal privacy is foundation of ourfreedom. Corporate greed has been re-sponsible for the invasion of our pri-vacy and the diminishment of ourfreedom to choose the path that is bestfor us. I don’t want to restrict our rightto seek and obtain information, I sim-ply oppose those entities that want tosell our personal financial informationwithout our consent. SB 1 struck ablow for protection from special in-terest manipulation.

Another legislative victory was yourauthorship of California’s anti-steer-ing law in 2003. How did you come tounderstand that steering was a threatto consumer and repairer’s interests?

I chaired the Senate Insurance Com-mittee in 1999 which investigatedauto insurance fraud. Committee staffinterviewed hundreds of consumers,auto repair dealers and insurance ad-justers. They documented that that in-surers were pressuring shops to repaircars quickly and cheaply, sometimesat the risk of compromising proper re-pair procedures. This pressure wasembodied in confidential agreements

between the insurer and shops. It wasif insurers wanted to run the shopswithout accepting any liability. I au-thored SB 1648, approved by the StateSenate, that would have prohibited in-surers from owning repair facilities.The bill failed passage by the full As-sembly despite stellar advocacy ef-forts by consumer groups and thecollision repair industry. Since that ef-fort fell short, I carried legislation toprotect consumers from the harmfuleffects of direct repair agreements, thebackbone of illegal steering practices.Now that I am in Congress, I am tak-ing a broader approach by examiningthe use of aftermarket safety parts,such as reinforcement bars, that ap-pear to violate laws requiring replace-ment repair parts to perform as well asthe OEM. Specifically, the aftermar-ket industry has failed to provideproof that its replacement parts arecrashed tested to insure that they willperform the same as OEM in collisionsituations.

In 2005 you sponsored a bill to regu-late sub-prime loans which, unfortu-nately, did not succeed. We all knowhow unregulated sub-prime financinghas since cut the legs from the U.S.real-estate market and played a hugerole in our near financial meltdown inthe last years of the Bush administra-tion. How did you come to be awareof how dangerous sub-prime financ-ing was likely to be?

Consumers Union, Center for Re-sponsible Lending and the CaliforniaReinvestment Coalition had docu-mented the abuses that were happen-ing to real families. The informationwas compelling, but the frenzy wastoo great and the banking and mort-gage broker industries were too pow-erful. Let’s face it, they were making atruckload of money selling these prod-ucts. California was more unprotectedthan many because of the high cost ofhomes and the lack of strong regula-tion in the mortgage industry at boththe state and federal level and lack ofconsumer protections for home buy-ers and homeowners.

In Congress on July 11, 2008, you in-troduced your first federal bill, TheGasoline Savings and Speed Limit Re-duction Act, which would set a na-tional speed limit of 60 mph in urban

areas and 65 mph on less-populatedstretches of highway. Tell us your rea-soning on those issues.

This is a clear example where safety,energy conservation and saving con-sumers money should all go hand inhand. I’ve been working on these is-sues for a long time, including intro-ducing an earlier speed limit bill inSacramento. Slowing down may notbe a popular idea, but the benefits arereal and that’s why I’m for it. I shouldalso mention I introduced a bill to giveconsumers rebates for more fuel effi-cient cars, similar to Cash for Clunk-ers which went into effect later on. Weneed to keep pushing fuel economy, iffor nothing else to tackle our addictionto oil, to clean up our air and to savelives—an estimated 4,000 annually ifthe nation’s highest speed limits werereduced.

You have recently met with OEM tech-nical staff and some California re-pairers to discuss what can be doneabout substandard aftermarket colli-

sion parts. This is another issue inwhich consumers and collision re-pairers interests align (at least in re-gard to the efficiency of installation ofOEM parts). Can you tell us what thestate of those discussions is? Do youthink the OEMs should be moreproactive in pushing back on insurersfor OEM part usage?

As I noted before, I am examining theuse of aftermarket safety parts, suchas reinforcement bars, that appear toviolate laws requiring replacement re-pair parts to perform as well as theOEM. Specifically, the aftermarket in-dustry has failed to provide proof thatits replacement parts are crashedtested to insure that they will performthe same as OEM in collision situa-tions. Rather than rush in with a bill, Iam waiting for vehicle manufacturersto provide engineering data to supportthe contention that aftermarket partsdon’t perform as well as OEM. Insome respects, it should be on theshoulders of aftermarket producers to


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Hyundai Shoots for 50 mpg Fleet by 2025Hyundai Motor America announcedplans to maintain its leadership andachieve a corporate average fueleconomy rating of at least 50 milesper gallon by 2025 for its lineup ofpassenger cars and light duty truckson August 4.

Current National Highway Traf-fic Safety Administration regulationsrequire automakers to achieve aCAFE rating of 35.5 mpg by 2016.

Before those rules were enactedlast year, Hyundai had already an-nounced its own plan to reach 35 mpgby 2015. Hyundai’s announcement ofthis longer-term goal of delivering aminimum 50 mpg CAFE rating by 2025is consistent with its philosophy of set-ting stretch objectives that align its re-sources, challenge its team members,and delight consumers and society.

Hyundai has shown that cus-tomers will flock to high-quality, styl-ish products offering high fueleconomy.

The game-changing all-new2011 Hyundai Sonata is the first mid-size family sedan to offer only 4-cylinder engines. Sonata achieves anEPA highway rating of 35 mpg, yetleads competitors in power outputthrough the use of advanced gasolinedirect injection (GDI).

Sonata’s sales were up 48 per-cent in the first half of 2010, while itstransaction prices and residual valuesnow exceed those of most mid-sizecompetitors. The Sonata and its 2.4-liter Theta II GDI engine are built atHyundai Motor Manufacturing Ala-bama.

Since becoming the fuel econ-omy leader in the 2008 model year,Hyundai Motor America market shareis up more than 50 percent.

Hyundai is poised to maintain itsfuel-economy leadership as projecteddata for the 2009 model year showsHyundai retaining its edge over the in-dustry.

Forecasts show a 2009 model-year fuel economy rating of 30.1 mpgfor passenger cars and light dutytrucks. Hyundai is also the only au-tomaker to top 30 mpg in the 2009projections.

For more information please visithyundai.com.


Honda Parts PositionStatementThe original parts used on a Hondavehicleare designed and built to worktogether within their respective sys-tems to provide optimum perform-ance, safety and system integrity.

American Honda recommendsthat all maintenance and repairs areperformed using Honda recom-mended procedures and Honda Gen-uine parts, which are designated foruse in the specific Honda vehicle.

Other parts—whether aftermar-ket, counterfeit or gray market—arenot recommended. The quality, per-formance, and safety of these partsand whether their compatibility witha Honda vehicle are unknown. Onlyby purchasing Honda Genuine partsthrough an authorized dealer can yoube assured of the replacement part’sreliability and compatibility.

American Honda’s new vehiclewarranty and replacement parts war-ranty do not apply to any part whichis not purchased from an authorizedUS Honda dealer. American Hondawill not be responsible for any subse-quent repair costs associated with ve-hicle or part failures caused by theuse of parts other than Honda Gen-uine parts purchased from an author-ized US Honda dealer.

State Farm IntroducesDistracted Driving ToolState Farm Insurance Co. has intro-duced what it claims is the insuranceindustry’s first free mobile phone ac-cessory to address growing concernsabout distracted driving.

State Farm’s “On the Move”widget enables Android smartphoneusers to let people texting them knowthat they’re busy or driving. Besidesreducing the number of accidents,this tool could lower claims costs.

Android smartphone users cancompose or select preloaded cus-tomized messages that can be sent asautomated responses to incoming textmessages, or limited to senders listedin the user’s smartphone addressbook. Instead of reading and re-sponding to text messages while driv-ing or at a class, gym or movie,smartphone users can activate theservice and let the widget respond forthem. The service is free to anyonewith an Android smartphone as partof State Farm’s updated Pocket Agentfor Android application. Incomingtext messages are still received andcan be accessed in the user’s inbox.

“On the Move” is compatiblewith Android OS 1.5 and higher.State Farm is evaluating options be-yond the Android offering.

prove their products are equivalent.But I believe auto makers can make asignificant statement by releasingcrash data.

Federal law may be needed toprotect consumers from unsafe after-market parts. But ideally consumersshould be educated to ask for and todemand that safety-related vehicle re-placement parts be OEM and theyshould avoid insurers that refuse toput their safety first.

Tell us how you originally got in-volved in the collision repair industryand related legislation?

I got involved part because I waschairing the Insurance & Financial In-stitution Committee, finding myselfsparring with the insurance industryand they were often times looking atways to shave their costs. I just thinkthat when a consumer pays for an in-surance product, they should get pre-cisely what they pay for, so the wholeidea of steering to particular a specificbody shop because they’re in a DRP,or because they’re going to put infe-rior parts on the vehicles, it just does-n’t sit right with me. So, that’s how Ifirst got involved back in the late‘90’s.

It just grew from there. More re-cently I’m on a committee in theHouse in which has oversight author-ity over the automotive industry, andwe had a hearing with the CEO ofToyota, Akio Toyoda, recently. Hewas questioned and during the courseof the questioning, it became apparentto me that we need to have some leg-islation on event data reporters andmandate them in all new vehicles, sothat there isn’t this dispute based onwhether there was driver error orfaulty brakes, for instance. That typeof information should be communi-cated to NHTSA in a timely fashion,so that we catch them before theseproblems become tragedies.

Will recent federal insurance reformhave any impact on the collision re-pair industry in the near future?

I don’t believe so. I worked reallyhard to make sure that the consumerprotections and state law was nottrampled on in an effort to create somenational insurance regulatory con-struct. For instance, in California the

Insurance Commissioner will stillhave the authority to take action onany number of consumer issues, basedon California law.

Recently, I started looking at theaftermarket collision parts issue, andthere is really an alarmingly potentialfor important safety equipment on avehicle to be compromised, becauseaftermarket parts are being used. Inpart, I was looking at the reinforce-ment bars in some vehicles and howthey’re critical to activating the car’sairbags. If they’re not a proper fit, theycan in fact compromise the airbagsfrom being activated.

Do you think the constant tug-of-warbetween the insurance companies andbody shops has gotten better, or will itnever stop?

Well, it got better. I carried legislation[in California] to prevent steering, andthen two years later I left the Legisla-ture and the insurance industry wentto a member to start and undo that. Iworry that the Legislature has becomeso beholden to the insurance industry;that the only way for consumers to beprotected in this environment and forauto repair shops to be able to makeprofessional decisions relative to therepair of a vehicle, will have to bedone in the courts. I really object to in-surance companies telling consumersone thing in their ads and then deliv-ering something completely differentwhen you really need them. We weresuccessful in preventing ProgressiveInsurance from owning its own repairshops when I was in the Legislature,and I know that at one point Allstatewas looking at it as well.

What is your position about Right toRepair?

It should be a requirement for the carmanufacturers to cooperate with therepair shops. [Otherwise] that wouldbe like a medical diagnostic companynot sharing information about theequipment that they’re selling to thedoctors to diagnose a health condition.

Has the ‘bailout’ for the American carmanufacturers been a success in youropinion?

I’m smiling when you say that, be-cause I was at the committee and

asked the question of General Mo-tors, when they were coming to uswith their hats in their hands for as-sistance from the federal govern-ment. And I made a case when Itold them, ‘you want somethingfrom the people of this country,how about offering somethingback, such as meeting these guide-lines for lower emissions or highergas mileage at a faster rate?’ Andthey said ‘No, we couldn’t possiblydo that.’

That was in the fall of 2008 andlook at where we are now. Now [weare about to have] the Volt and100,000-mile warranties—so I thinkit was important for the federal gov-ernment to step in, because it saved alot of jobs. It saved the economy inpart and I think in time all the loanswill be repaid. American car manu-facturers got leaner and better atmaking products. We need to make aconcerted effort to create manufac-turing jobs in this country, so savingthe carmakers is a critical part ofthat.

Where do you think the collision re-pair industry will be in 5–10 years?

The industry needs to align itself withthe consumer more and find opportu-nities to work with consumer organi-zations to make the case that they’relooking out for the owner of the vehi-cle. The repair shops don’t want to becompromised in doing a good job forthe car owner and they’re often timesput into a conflict of interest by the in-surers, and we really need to preventthat from happening. They need towork together to push the customer tothe top of the list.

Thank you very much. Last Question:Is it true that as a child you wanted tostudy ballet but your father insistedyou learn Judo instead?

True. But I earned a brown belt, so Ican’t complain.

Comments on this interview and futureones can be posted at www.autobo-dynews.com.


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Nissan Recalls Cubefor Fuel LeakNissan North America announced July21 that it is recalling all 2009-2010Cubes manufactured from January 30,2009 through July 30, 2010 for anissue with the fuel system. Around46,000 units are said to be affected.

When the vehicle was rotatedfollowing a rear moving crash test theamount of fuel leakage exceeded al-lowable limits. The safety recall isexpected to begin August 30, 2010.Owners may contact Nissan at 1-800-647-7261 or go to www.safecar.gov.

BMW Gran TurismoRecallBMW is recalling 6,080 2010 and2011 BMW 5 Series Gran Turismosfor a potentially faulty fuel sensor.The sensor has a lever that can be-come wedged against the tank, re-sulting in inaccurate fuel readings inthe instrument cluster.

The affected vehicles were builtbetween Jan. 12 and July 1. BMWhasn’t yet provided the NHTSA witha fix for the issue or a notificationdate. To find out more, call BMW’shot line at 800-525-7417.

Jaguar Recalls 2010 XKand XFJaguar Land Rover North Americaannounced July 21 that all 2010-2011Jaguar XK’s and all 2010 Jaguar XF’swill be recalled starting August 30 foran issue with the vehicles’ enginecooling system. The NHTSA esti-mates that approximately 5,048 vehi-cles will be affected by this recall.

Dealers will revise software freeof charge. The recall is expected tobegin August 30, 2010. Owners maycontact Jaguar at 1-800-452-4827 orgo to www.safecar.gov.

I-CAR OverviewCoursesI-CAR, The Inter-Industry Confer-ence on Auto Collision Repair, willoffer a newcourse called CollisionRepair Process Overview (CRO01).

It is the first in a series ofcourses that will be introduced overthe next year by I-CAR as the “BasicPrinciples of Auto Collision Repair”series.

TRegister online for CollisionRepair Process Overview by visiting,the I-CAR Online Training page atwww.i-caronlinetraining.com.

A 1933 Delage D8S De Villars Roadster owned byThe Patterson Collection in Louisville, Kentucky,was named Best of Show at the 60th Pebble BeachConcours d’Elegance held Sunday, Aug. 15 on the18th fairway of Pebble Beach Golf Links®.

“There are so many things about this car that arespecial,” said owner Jim Patterson, who foundedLong John Silver’s restaurant and contributed to thefounding of the Rally’s Hamburger chain.

“We’ve won (with other cars) at a lot of con-cours, but never here. This win at Pebble is theultimate. This is the one win that really matters.”

The world’s most exclusive collector car showand competition was held, as usual, in one of the

world’s most beautiful and dramatic locations: the18th fairway of the famed Pebble Beach Golf Links.Pebble Beach is open 364 days a year to golfers andclosed only one day, for the Concours d’Elegance.

This international event offers a highly uniquevisual: historic automobiles set against the backdropof Carmel Bay.

Some 255 cars and motorcycles from 33states and 14 countries compete for “Best ofShow.” Collectors bring their vintage vehicles toCalifornia’s picturesque Monterey coastline fromas far away as Hong Kong, Germany, Monaco andArgentina.

More than 20 concept and new cars were fea-tured during the weekend, including vehicles fromAston Martin, Bentley, Bertone/Alfa Romeo,Bugatti, Cadillac, W K Cherry, Ford, Jaguar, Lexus,Maserati, McLaren, Mercedes-Benz, Morgan,Porsche and Rolls-Royce.

Celebrity participants include Tonight Showhost Jay Leno and actor Edward Herrmann, whowas the Concours’ Master of Ceremonies. Othercelebrity attendees included Roger Corman, Je-remy Piven, Erik Estrada and California Gover-nor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Concours displayed over 108 years of theautomobile, from the oldest car on the field, a 1902Mercedes Simplex—the oldest car still on the roadtoday to bear the Mercedes name—to several new

concept and production vehicles.Competitors from 33 states and 14 countries

brought their prized automotive possessions to theCalifornia’s Monterey Peninsula for judging in 29classes. In the end, the white, streamlined 1933 De-

lage with coachwork from De Villars was judged thebest.

“This Delage has a short wheelbase thatmakes it look more rakish, but it still has a longand elegant look,” said Concours Chairman San-


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1933 Delage D8S Roadster is Pebble’s Concours d’Elegance ‘Best of Show’

A striking 1933 Delage D8S De Villars Roadster from ThePatterson Collection in Louisville, Kentucky, was named Bestof Show at the 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.Copyright © 2010 by Kimball Studios/Courtesy of Pebble BeachConcours d’Elegance.

With a stunning backdrop of Carmel Bay, cars pass over theawards ramp of the 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.Copyright © 2010 by Kimball Studios/Courtesy of Pebble BeachConcours d’Elegance.

See Pebble’s Best of Show, Page 48


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Senate Committee Passes High-Tech LegislationThe U.S. Senate Committee on Energyand Natural Resources met July 21 fora markup of Senate Bill 3495, “ThePromoting Electric Vehicles Act of2010”; S.B. 2843, “The Advanced Ve-hicle Technology Act of 2009” andS.B. 679, “The Heavy Duty Hybrid Ve-hicle Research, Development andDemonstration Act of 2009.”

The committee did not finalize itswork on S.B. 679 and will address thisbill at a later committee meeting. BothS.B. 3495 and 2843 were reported outof the committee.

“The Promoting Electric VehiclesAct of 2010,” sponsored by Sen. ByronDorgan, D-N.D., introduced in June,aims to reduce the United States’ de-pendency on foreign oil and signifi-cantly reduce greenhouse gasemissions. The main component of thebill is Title I which aims to:● Reduce the use of petroleum by accel-erating the deployment of plug-in elec-tric-drive vehicles in the United States.● Reduce greenhouse gas emissions byaccelerating the deployment of plug-inelectric-drive vehicles in the United States.

● Facilitate the rapid deployment ofplug-in electric-drive vehicles.● Achieve significant market penetra-tions by plug-in electric-drive vehiclesnationally.● Establish models for the rapid de-ployment of plug-in electric-drive ve-hicles nationally, including models forthe deployment of residential, privateand publicly available charging infra-structure.● Increase consumer knowledge and ac-ceptance of plug-in electric-drive vehicles.● Encourage the innovation and in-

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dra Button. “It did 110 miles-per-hour in its day;it could race and was stunningly beautiful. Thiscar could do it all; it embodied style, speed andcomfort.”

Delage added the sports version to the D8 rangein 1930. To make the S more aerodynamic than itspredecessors, a new radiator shell was used, whichrequired a special hood and firewall that made theD8S even more visually distinctive. Patterson’s D8Sgraced the 1933 Salon de Paris at the Grand Palais.It was owned during the 1950s by the Grand HotelVelasquez in Madrid, Spain and was used as trans-

portation for its more discerning guests. Now it’s oneof 60 Pebble Beach Concours Best of Show winners.

Alfa Romeo, a featured marque at the 2010Concours, had the largest presence on the 2010 Peb-ble Beach show field, including seven vehiclesshipped from the Alfa Romeo Museum in Arese,Italy. The 75th anniversary of Jaguar was also fea-

tured, as was Pierce-Arrow. Special classes includeda focus on the 50th anniversary of the Ferrari 250GT SWB Berlinetta, the centennial of the Indi-anapolis 500, Hot Rod lakesters and Bonneville rac-ers, American Prewar Road and Racing Motorcyclesand Ghia-designed vehicles.

More than 250 cars and motorcycles were pres-ent, encompassing more than 100 years of the auto-

mobile, with the oldest car on the field being a 1902Mercedes Simplex.

The Pebble Beach Concours occurs every yearon the third Sunday in August. Featured marques forthe 61st Pebble Beach Concours, slated for Sunday,

Aug. 21, 2011, will include Mercedes-Benz and 100Years of the Automobile, Stutz Centennial, Ferrari250 GTO and Italian Motorcycles.

Additionally, proceeds from raffles, auctions,sponsorships and ticket sales helped contribute morethan $1 million to charity for the fifth consecutive year.


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A 28-horsepower 1902 Mercedes Simplex—the oldest car stillon the road today to bear the Mercedes name—arrives at TheLodge at Pebble Beach having just completed the 2010 PebbleBeach Motoring Classic.Copyright © 2010 by Riverview Media Photography, Tia Gemmell.Courtesy of Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

Jaguar XKSS owners who participated in a special Pebble BeachRally paused for photos and refreshments at the historic MissionSan Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo. The Jaguar XKSS class thatappeared at the 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance isbelieved to be the largest-ever gathering of XKSS cars.Copyright © 2010 by Kimball Studios/Courtesy of Pebble Beach Concoursd’Elegance.

Academy Award-winning director Roger Corman recounting histime making the classic road-racing film, “The Fast & Furious”(1954) at the Pebble Beach Road Races and Pebble BeachConcours d’Elegance.Copyright © 2010 by Riverview Media Photography, Tia Gemmell.Courtesy of Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.


Pebble’s Best of Show

I am a member of the CAA, the SCRSand a Gold Pin holder of CIC; I havesome questions for all these organiza-tions.

My first question is to the boardof the CAA. As a member of theCAA, I want to know where the boardstands on aftermarket parts? Do youagree with the aftermarket parts com-panies when they say they have testedtheir parts and they are the same asOEM parts according to the law thatreads that the parts must be of ‘likekind and quality’ to the OEM’s?

Or, do you agree with the recenttests that have been conducted byFord Motor Company that proves thatthey are not the same? I want to knowwhere you stand on this issue becauseas this industry issue has come to theforefront at CIC (with Toby Chessand his now famous rebar test) youhave been quiet as to where the CAAstands on this issue. It seems that you

should have some opinion and I wouldlike to know what it is and why youhave chosen to keep quiet on such acontroversial industry issue.

As a member of the CAA, I wantto feel comfortable that the organiza-tion is looking after my best interestas a shop owner.

My second question is to theSCRS. As a member, I would like toask you the same question. As theSociety of Collision Repair Special-ists it seems to me that the SCRSwould be very outspoken about thisongoing issue with aftermarket partsand vehicle safety. It seems to methat you have chosen to remain quietalso. I really don’t understand whyas an organization that is so highlyrespected within the collision indus-try—with a board that consists ofpeople I highly respect—so pleaseanswer: why are you not taking thelead on this issue? Correct me if I am

wrong, but I don’t believe that any ofyour members really need to be toldof the difference between an after-market part compared to an OEM.Where do you stand on the use of af-termarket parts? We want to hearfrom you please.

My question to the CIC board. Asan associate member, I want to knowwhy after all of these years do we keepre-hashing the same issues over andover and keep fooling ourselves intothinking things are getting better. Asthe recognized industry forum whereeveryone in the industry can come to-gether for the good of all why do wekeep pretending that we are all on thesame page? Our industry leaders don’tlead and we never accomplish any-thing significant. Why didn’t someone step up and encourage Toby Chesswhen he was threatened and demandthat he do his rebar test anyway andthen threaten those that threatenedhim.

Instead, all of the so-called colli-sion industry leaders failed to lead at atime when leadership was crucial andnecessary. We are so worried aboutanti-trust and being politically correctthat we are failing to guide this indus-try through desperate times.

True leadership always comeswith a price and there are tremendousrisks involved. Nothing will everchange by taking the safe road, butthings will change by taking the highroad. I would have never started mybusiness if I hadn’t been willing torisk everything at some point. We area fragramented industry because welack the direction of a defined leader.

We are compiled of a bunch ofassociations that either have their ownagendas or are just using them for net-working purposes.

Right now, today, we know thatover 50% (I think more like 80%) ofthe vehicles are repaired improperlyafter a collision. Today the majority ofcollision repair shops lack the equip-ment and training to repair collisionsproperly. Vehicle safety is put on theback burner because most shops arenot informed or forced to repair thevehicles properly. Collision repair isevolving so rapidly that even the wellfinanced well informed shops are hav-

ing trouble keeping up. So why do wekeep fooling ourselves and act likethings are going to get better. We can’teven speak out against Aftermarketbumper rebars at our own industrymeeting without some one overpow-ering us and stopping Toby’s test. Ifthings are to change it will only bewhen the CIC, CAA, or the SCRSstop trying to be so politically correctand really stand up for the repairprocess. Its time to take notice thatthere is a safety problem!! Now thatPaul Masse from Ford Motor Com-pany has completed testing that ispretty powerful and hard to ignore col-lision shops and insures are openingthemselves up to huge liability prob-lems.

How can I be so bold as to say thethings I am saying? Because they aretrue! After Toby was stopped the CRAcontacted him and we were able to dothe same test for Channel 7 and FoxNews with Assemblyman DavidJones. After this Allen Wood and Iwent to Congresswoman JackieSpeier’s office and saw her do the testwith her own hands. After this meet-ing Jackie was so concerned that sheask me if we could get some nationalsupport for this or was it just a Cali-fornia issue. I told her I was sure Icould get national support. I made acall to Aaron Schulenberg, the pres-ident of the SCRS, and left a detailedmessage asking him if he wanted to beinvolved. I didn’t get a return call forweeks (after the fact) with a messagethat he was sorry for not getting backto me. Wow. I thought this was a bigissue. I mean how we repair vehicles:safety in collision repair is somethingthat we, as the repair providers, are as-suming the liability for.

We met with the Deputy AttorneyGeneral Paul Stein from the State ofCalifornia, along with the Chief Coun-cil to the Insurance Commissioner,and we did the test for them. The de-partment of insurance thought track-ing would solve the issue because theCAA had told them that this was theprimary problem and the A/G wantedproof that the parts were not the same(he has his proof now thanks to Ford).But they both ask me the same ques-


The Lack of Industry Leadership

See Leadership, Page 58

Action Countswith Lee Amaradio Jr.

Lee Amaradio, Jr. is the president and owner of “Faith” Quality Auto Body Inc. in Murrieta,California. Lee is president of the CRA as well as an advocate for many other industrygroups. He can be contacted at [email protected]

Concerns about data privacy promptedthe formation this spring at the Colli-sion Industry Conference (CIC) of ataskforce focused on the subject. AtCIC in Chicago in July, Tony Passwa-

ter, an industrytrainer and execu-tive director of theIndiana Auto BodyAssociation, saidthat the new task-force that he chairshas in recent weeksbeen discussing

and finalizing its objectives.The primary issue, he said, is that

as the industry’s information providersmove toward “cloud computing” sys-tems—in which a shop’s estimate andeven management system informationis stored on the system provider’scomputers rather than the shop’s—concerns are being raised about accessto and use of the data.

“I don’t think the current data pri-vacy policies and terms-of-use address

all the ramifications of that,” Passwatersaid.

The topic was also highlighted bya panel during the CIC Insurer-Re-pairer Relations Committee, whichdiscussed a “data rights” proposalcrafted by another CIC committee.That statement says no third-partyshould capture or use in any way dataproduced by a shop—even if devel-oped using or transmitted over a third-party’s software or network—withoutthe specific authorization of the shop.The intended use of the data and whowill have access to it must be clearlystated, the proposal reads.

Aaron Schulenburg, executivedirector of the Society of CollisionRepair Specialists (SCRS), said theproblem isn’t that informationproviders don’t get shops’ permissionto aggregate and sell their data. It’smore that shops aren’t given anychoice but to sign away that right ifthey want to use any of the Big Threeestimating systems, he said. Granting

permission for the shop data to beused should be an option for the shop,not a requirement, Schulenburg said.

“We all need aggregated data,”Mike Lloyd of California Casualty

said. “But as far asthe individual re-paier’s data, I be-lieve that belongsto the shop. Youshould have that inthe agreement withthe vendor thatyou’re using. You

should also have in the agreement thatif you move to a different vendor, howdo you get your data back so you canput it in your (new) system?”

That’s an issue several people onthe panel brought up. One panelist, forexample, said he was aware of anmulti-shop operator who closed one lo-cation and could not get the data cre-ated for that location back from theinformation provider because the sub-

scription for that location was nolonger maintained.

Passwater said informationproviders argue that they should havesome rights to estimate data preparedby users that are based on the infor-mation provider’s labor times andother data. But he compared it to buy-ing lumber, saying that doesn’t allowyou to own the land the wood wasgrown on nor give the lumber yardany right to the house you build withit. It’s my house. At some point intime, I should have the right to saywhat I do with my house,” Passwatersaid.

Scott Biggs, of Assured Perform-ance Network, said some shops mightnot be overly concerned about thisissue but likely will be if down theroad the information providers chargea shop for access to the shop’s ownaggregated data that the shop cur-rently has access to as part of its man-agement software system fee.


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Access and Use of Shop Data Raise Privacy Concerns for the Industry


John Yoswick is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon, who has been writingabout the automotive industry since 1988. He is the editor of the weekly CRASHNetwork (for a free 4-week trial subscription, visit www.CrashNetwork.com).He can be contacted by email at [email protected].

A new survey found that when it comes to

parts suppliers, collision shops prize order

accuracy most, aren’t overly interested in

electronic parts ordering, and are not very

satisfied with the quality of remanufactured

or non-OEM parts.

The survey by phone and fax of 300

shops was commissioned by the Collision

Industry Conference (CIC) parts committee

earlier this year. It asked shops to rate nearly

two dozen attributes of a parts vendor on a

scale of 1 to 10, with the higher number in-

dicating a higher level of desirability.

Perhaps not surprisingly, order accu-

racy, quality parts, competency and help-

fulness of the parts personnel, timely

delivery and undamaged parts topped the

list of shop’s desires.

A large parts inventory – something

many dealers tout in their advertising to

shops – finished about in the middle of the

21 attributes.

Least important to shops among the

attributes were the proximity of the supplier

to the shop, and promotions or trips and

merchandise awarded for purchase loyalty.

But perhaps discouraging to OE Con-

nection and InfoMedia was the fact that the

ability to order parts electronically received

an average importance rating of 7.32, indi-

cating that 17 of the 21 other attributes

were more important to shops.

Still, nearly 3 out of 5 shops respond-

ing say they use one or both of the elec-

tronic parts ordering systems. The rest said

they don’t use them because they prefer the

personal contact with the vendor by order-

ing via phone or fax. Some non-users, how-

ever, also cited a lack of dealer participation

as the reason they don’t use the systems.

With regard to non-OEM parts, the sur-

vey found that over half of the shops said their

vendor does not supply them with return-rate

information on a particular part. Eighty-two

percent rated the quality of non-OEM parts as

“7” or lower on a scale of 1 to 10.

Remanufactured parts fared slightly

better, with 37 percent rating their quality

as an “8” or higher.

Complete findings of the study are

available on the CIC website at:

www.CIClink.com.

Mike Lloyd

What shops want from parts vendors

Tony Passwater

Aloha Toby,I just got done reading your article(Heat? On a Toyota Front Frame Rail?No Way !) in the July edition of Auto-bodyNews. I’ve always considered my-self fairly smart and up to date withrepair standards but after taking the“test” and feeling a bit foolish, an-swering only 7 correctly out of the 15questions, I have to agree with you thatwe can no longer repair vehicles theway we used to. Acquiring the vehiclemanufacturer’s repair procedures be-fore you start the repairs and followingtheir recommended repair proceduresis the only way to go. Thanks for all thatyou do, for all of us in this industry.Keep up the great work that you do!Mahalo,Dale Matsumoto—Auto Body Hawaii

Aloha Dale—Mahalo for the compli-ments and your honesty. One of themajor problems that our industry is

facing today is lack of knowledge on“the why” we do certain proceduresand not on “the how.” Case in point.Why is the “B” pillar reinforcementreplacement on a 2009 Toyota Camrydone at the roof line instead of sec-tioning? Let’s take a look at the whyfirst and then the how.The government mandated that the carmanufacturers design vehicles thatwill protect the vehicle’s occupants in

front collisions. Vehicle makers haveresponded by building cars that willabsorb a great amounts of energy in

frontal impact and, along with frontalair bags, this contributes to much lessinjury and death. Look at the previouspicture and you will notice that frontstructure collapsed nearly 50% of itsoriginal length, but the passengercompartment hardly had any defor-mation. This was all accomplished byusing high strength steels, internal re-inforcements, crush zones and laserwelding (Example: The front rail on aToyota Camry has 3 different thick-nesses of metals attached using laserwelds). The Federal Governmentstarted to look at side impacts androllovers more seriously in the mid90’s. Our first encounter in the bodyshop was the door intrusion beam.These parts were constructed of ultrahigh strength steels. The Insurance In-stitute of Highway Safety, as part oftheir crash ratings, began to test forrolls over and side impacts.

IIHS devised a test by placing aweight on the “B” pillar and measuredthe amount of crush.

The standard of 2009 was 3 timesthe weight of the vehicle and in 2012it will be 4 times the weight. Toachieve a 5-star rating, vehicle manu-facturers began increasing the strengthof the “B” pillar reinforcements. Toy-ota uses steel with a MPa rating of 590and the Volvo XC 90 reinforcementrating is 1100 Mpa. Let’s look atwelding and the affect of heat on Ad-vanced High Strength Steels (AHSS).

Looking at the previous picture,you will notice the weld, silver metaland the black oval ring around the

weld. The black oval ring is called the“heat affected zone” (HAZ). In I-CAR’s Damage Analysis 8, there is ademonstration on the effect of heat onultra high strength steel. The UHSSwas basicaly changed to mild steel byheating the metal to 1200 degreesFahrenheit. The temperature in theHAZ can reach up to 2000 degrees,which will weaken or destroy its ultra

high strength properties. Realizing thisfact will help us understand why somemanufacturers require that the entire re-inforcement is replaced instead of sec-tioning the part.

To better understand the drasticchanges that started in 2009, I willdemonstrate the start to finish processof a “B” pillar reinforcement in a 2009Toyota Camry.

I contacted Joe Di Donato, thelead instructor at the Toyota University

in Torrance, California about docu-menting the removal and replacementof a “B” pillar reinforcement. Joe, whoI consider to be one of the best instruc-tors in the country, accepted the chal-lenge (of baby sitting me for 3 fulldays). I printed out the repairs fromToyota’s Technical Information System(TIS) along with all pertinent CollisionRepair Information Bulletins (CRIB).1. Vehicle is placed on a frame bench2. Vehicle is measured to determinethe extent of damage (2nd photo thispage).


Hey Toby!with Toby Chess

Toby Chess is an I-CAR program instructor, Welding specialist, and former salvage yardoperator. Toby is universally known in the collision industry for his charitable works,worthy causes, and magic tricks. He can be reached at [email protected]

Why is Camry “B” Pillar Reinforcement Repair Done at the Roof Line?

3. Upper body measurements aretaken (third photo this page).4. Replacement outer panel isplaced into position and marked.5. The outer Roof panel and post coveris cut and saved. The welds on the inner“B” pillar reinforcement are exposed6. Clean and expose all spot weldsas outlined in TIS removal document.I started to remove some spots weldsthat did not need to be removed. I alsomissed a couple of spot welds on the

bottom of rocker panel. Again, you

need to look at removal documentprior to beginning the repairs. I wouldsuggest that you mark all spot weldson the car as well as the data sheet.7. Mark the outer rocker at the sec-tioning location and cut.8. Remove the entire piece as a sin-gle unit. Again I did not follow the in-structions and tried to remove all thedamaged parts separately. This took alot more time.9. Clean all the mating surfaces.10. Apply weld thru prime to all bare

mating surfaces.11. Measure the thickness of themetal.12. Weld some scrap metal from theremoval process and perform a de-structive test. We welded a numberof scrap pieces at different thicknesssettings. The welds looked good, butall failed the destructive test. Wediscovered that there was notenough amperage on the circuit that

we were plugged into. We move themachine to a different plug (85ampcircuit) and we were able to get agood weld that passed a destructivetest.13. Test fit the inner “B” panel rein-forcement,14. Weld inner “B” panel reinforce-ment to the out rocker reinforcement(We reused the old one, but I wouldrecommend that you use a new outerrocker panel.

15. Weld upper portion of the “B”panel reinforcement to the roofpanel.16. Apply epoxy primer to all baremetal. We mixed up some epoxyprimer in a cup and applied it with cot-ton applicator (outline in the TIS).17. Weld the outer rocker panel rein-forcement to the vehicle. Use only an


DO THE RIGHT THINGENOUGH TIMES,AND PEOPLE BEGINTO NOTICE.

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SAN LEANDRO510-347-3010

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See Hey Toby!, Page 54


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I-Car First Annual Ultimate Collision Education MakeoverIndustry professionals are invited tojoin Steel Center Area VocationalTechnical School in Jefferson Hills,PA and the I-CAR Education Founda-tion the afternoon of Thursday, Sep-tember 9th for a ribbon cuttingceremony in celebration of the schoolwinning the first annual Ultimate Col-lision Education Makeover $50,000school grant.

On display during the event willbe the tools, equipment, supplies, andother items that the school obtainedthrough the grant.

The event will include presenta-tions from school administration andI-CAR Education Foundation staff,meet and greet with students, tours ofthe facility, and an evening dinner re-ception.

The goal of the Ultimate Colli-sion Education Makeover program isto honor a school that has been doingan outstanding job in educating stu-dents in collision repair, but is in needof financial assistance to improvetheir program’s teaching materials andequipment.

As the winning school, SteelCenter AVTS was able to select$50,000 in supplies, tools, andequipment needed specifically fortheir collision program, thereby

making a difference in the educationof the students studying collision re-pair.

The I-CAR Education Founda-tion would like to officially recognizethe following industry companieswho supported the 2009 UltimateCollision Education Makeover grantprogram: 3M; Airgas, Inc.; ALL-DATA; BASF Corporation; BECCA;Chicago Pneumatic; Chief Automo-tive Technologies; Col-Met; Crest In-dustries; DeVilbiss AutomotiveRefinishing; FinishMaster; Goff’s En-terprises; Gorilla Glue; I-CAR; Inter-national Epoxies & Sealers; TheLincoln Electric Company; MacTools; Miller Electric; Mitchell Inter-national; Motor Guard; PPG Automo-tive Refinishes; Sherwin WilliamsAutomotive Refinishes; Sperian Pro-tection; Sterling Autobody Centers;TOONA Automotive Paint & Equip-ment; and Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A,Inc.

Those interested in attending theribbon cutting ceremony are asked toRSVP by contacting I-CAR Educa-tion Foundation Assistant Director ofGrant Programs Melissa Marscin [email protected].

For more information please visiti-car.com.

NHTSA Ponders Requiring Stability Control for Trailer TrucksAccording to reports made byBloomberg and the Associated Press,stability control systems already onthe market for tractor trailer truckscould prevent nearly 3,500 rolloveraccidents and save an estimated 106lives a year if they were required ontrucks, a federal safety official saidAugust 3.

Nathaniel Beuse, director ofcrash avoidance standards at the Na-tional Highway Traffic Safety Ad-ministration, said his estimate wasbased on tests of the stability systemsthe agency conducted with re-searchers from the University ofMichigan.

All new passenger vehicles arerequired to have stability control sys-tems, but not commercial trucks eventhough trucks represent a dispropor-tionate share of rollover accidents.NHTSA is considering whether tomandate the systems for tractor trailertrucks, Beuse told a hearing of the Na-tional Transportation Safety Board.

The safety board is holding atwo-day hearing examining whetherenough is being done to prevent tanktrucks from rolling over.

Tank trucks, more than othertrucks, are susceptible to rollovers be-cause the weight distribution of the

liquid they carry can shift suddenly,causing an imbalance. Tank trucksrepresent 6 percent of large trucks, butthey account for 31 percent of all fatalcommercial truck rollover crashes.

About half the accidents inwhich trucks hauling tank trailersrolled over because they went arounda curve too fast could have been pre-vented with stability control systems,according to a Battelle Memorial In-stitute study.

Tank trucks pose a special con-cern because they often haul haz-ardous cargo.

Stability control systems employsensors that tell the vehicle's onboardcomputer when weight is shifting oris about to shift. The computer auto-matically applies brakes to one ormore wheels to compensate until bal-ance is restored.

There are several kinds of stabil-ity control systems. It would costabout $1,200 to retrofit an existingtank truck with the most effective ofthe systems, a panel of experts told theboard. The technology adds less than$1,000 to the price of a new truck.

The systems became availableabout five years ago. Some manufac-turers are now including them as stan-dard equipment on new tank trailers.

open butt weld. Toyota does not rec-ommend a butt weld with backer onany welded joints as per CRIB #176(revised).18. Set outer “B” panel reinforce-ment on vehicle and mark plug weld

locations. Perform practice welds andconduct a destructive test prior towelding on the vehicle.19. Measure as per dimension sheetin repair manual,

20. Weld outer “B” panel reinforce-ment with squeeze type resistancespot welds and MIG welds as outlinedin the Toyota Repair Manual.21. Apply weld thru primer to allmating surfaces.22. Apply semi rigid foam as outlinein the Toyota Repair Manual.23. Weld in outer access panel.24. Set outer “B” panel and rockercover on vehicle a mark the cut location.

25. Cut panels using cut and join

technique.26. Weld outer panel with stitchmethod and STRSW.27. Dress all welds.

28. Apply epoxy primer to bare metal29. Apply body filler30. Refinish.

I was visiting a local collisioncenter and they had a 2010 ToyotaPrius on a frame bench. The parts hadarrived and the shop had both doorsoff. I asked the shop foreman whatprocedures he was going utilize in theprocess. He explained the tech wasgoing to repair the inner “B” panel re-inforcement (pulling with a frametower). I went into TIS and pulleddown all the repair information andCRIBs pertaining to this particular re-pair. CRIB #175 (revised) states “Be-cause occupant safety is such a highpriority, HSS & UHSS occupantcabin reinforcement repair is notrecommended.” If goes on to say not

to use hot or cold straightening meth-ods. The original estimate nowneeded to be changed and additionalparts ordered. This delay could havebeen avoided by printing out the nec-essary documentation for this repairat the time of writing the estimate.The easiest way to get this info is di-rectly from the Toyota web site. Go tooem1stop.com and click on Toyota.You can subscribe for 2 days, 30 daysor 1 year.

Here is another point fromCRIB#175 revised. “Do not section980 MPa and 590 MPa strengthrated pillar reinforcements.” An-other reason why Toyota states thatthe “B” pillar reinforcement on a2009 Corolla, Prius and Camry arereplaced in their entirety. The Venzaon the other hand has a laser weldnear the bottom of the reinforce-ment, which separates the upper por-tion of 590 MPa steel and lowerportion 440 MPa steel. The “B” pil-lar reinforcement can be sectionedusing an open butt joint on the lowerportion of the panel. I-CAR has justintroduced a new class called TOY01 and it is a must for repairingtoday’s Toyotas correctly. Another

class that I would recommend forestimators, appraisers and bodytechnicians is I-CAR’s POP 01. Thisclass deals with the OEM’s recom-mended repairs for Toyotas, Hondasand the Pontiac G8. Lastly, I wouldlike to discuss the training programfrom Toyota.

Toyota University has a numberof excellent classes. You can take aclasses on refinishing (2-day hands-onclass), Color matching, Hybrids, Non-structural repairs (2-day class) andstructural repairs (also 2-day class). Iattended recently the Toyota structuralclass with Joe Di Donato. The firstday we went over the theory of theToyota Structural repairs and the sec-ond day we installed a rail section in aCamry. The class uses the latest equip-ment and Joe is an excellent instruc-tor (not as good as me, but realclose—just kidding). The class inopen to anyone. All you need is aSPIN number (get it from your localToyota dealer) and sign up on line andthat is it.

The best thing of all is its cost.It’s dirt cheap for what you get. Hopethat I was able to give a better insightinto the repairs of Toyotas.


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Hey Toby!

This column is part two of RichEvans’ column from our July 2010issue titled Building a numbered carexactly like the Red Mist in KickAss.

To read that column go towww.autobodynews.com > columns >Rich Evans.

Back to the Red Mist project. The caris identical to the one in the movieKick Ass and is on its way back toWoody Frees and his sons. Paying at-tention to detail and quality is what it’sall about. Never be in too much ahurry to do a project. Just make sureyou get it done right.

Let’s review the steps and pro-cedures that it took to get Woody’scar done and on the road back toFort Lauderdale, Florida. When wewe left off in July I had just widenedthe rear end 3 inches, installed mybody kit, mocked it up, and we used

the mar-glass fine hair (from Mar-son®) to bond the body kit to the

2008 GT Mustang. Now to shape therear flares so it’s part of the bodyand also mold in the rockers to thefender and the rocker panel. I’mgoing to use the mar-glass to blend itbecause it’s stronger material thanthe Bondo™. I use the 3M® tape andI’ll align myself about 2 inchesaway from where I want to mold the

two panels together. That way whenI’m spreading the mar-glass I’ll be

able to pull the tape and nothave so much extra sandingwork. You’re not really havinga heavy build but you haveenough build to seam thatmetal to the fiberglass and nothave the seam break looseafter primering and painting it.That’s why I chose the mar-glass. It’s a short-strand fiber-glass reinforced auto bodyfiller. I’ll apply Bondo™ ontop of that. After 2 or 3 days

getting these panels shaped up with36 grit. I’m going to use the Soft-Sanders™ with this body kit. The

Soft-Sander™ blocks are an every-day use of mine anyways, but theseblocks really truly save me up to75% of the time because of all theshapes that they come in. So I’mable to get in the grooves. I’m ableto sand a continuous stroke and alsoshape better with the Soft-Sander™blocks just because you’re able toform them to the radius of whatyou’re sanding. They come in dif-ferent sizes: 4-inch, 8-inch and 12-inch. With my body kit it’s really gota lot of shape to it so these blocks

are able to get me there quicker. Ifyou go to www.softsanders.com youcan get a whole list of their product.

I’ve always said time is moneyand this product is a time and moneysaver. I wish I had run across it 15years ago.

Let’s move on to the paint. Ob-viously we’re going to have toprime it first. So I gave Sherwin-Williams a call and they were coolenough to sponsor me for this buildwhich gives me a chance to trysome other products. I used theSpeed P30 Spectra Prime. The mix-ing ratio is 2 part Spectra Prime, 2part SR15 and one part UH900. Iapplied probably about 8 mills and

used a 1.9 tip on my HVLPSATA primer gun. You wantto shoot it at about 25 to 45 psiand that will give you a goodatomization and break downthat thick primer. I reallyloaded up because I only wantto primer it once. After sand-ing it ended up with about320. With my sand scratches Iusually leave about 80 or 150.I don’t get too detailed be-cause I’m going to follow up

with 80. So with this project I leftmy sand scratches at 80 and Ifeather-edged everything with 150and then the additional paint that’sleft over you want to hit with the320.

Applying the three coats ofprimer gives you probably close to 9mills. I guide coat it with some blackguide coat. This will give me a ref-erence for my highs and lows toblend this into the quarter panels ordown in the rockers all the way tothe fenders. It’s going to give me a

good reference where my highsand lows are and if I have anyadditional pinholes I’ll use the417 putty to get in there. It’spretty much like a poly primer.After priming I use the Soft-Sander™ blocks and hit it withthe 80 grit. After that I’m goingto re-guide coat it and comeback with the 150 grit. Basi-cally I chase out the 80 gritscratches with the 150. I re-guide coat it and then wet sand


Custom Cornerwith Rich Evans

Custom Cornerwith Rich Evans

Opinions Countwith Dick Strom





with Sheila LoftusYour Turn

with Sheila LoftusYour Turn

Opinions Countwith Dick Strom

Shop Showcasewith Janet Chaney

Shop Showcasewith Janet Chaney

Industry Overviewwith Janet Chaney

Industry Overviewwith Janet Chaney

Industry Interviewwith Janet Chaney

Industry Interviewwith Janet Chaney



Rich Evans is the owner of Huntington Beach Bodyworks and an award winning painter andfabricator. He offers workshops in repair and customization at his facility to share his uniquetalents. For contacts and design samples visit www.huntingtonbeachbodyworks.com

Building a Numbered Car Exactly like the Red Mist, Part Two

Using the Soft-Sander™ blocks on the rear flares

Getting the primer right

Using the Soft-Sander™ blocks to true the guide coat

it with a 400 wet. This sand paperfrom Soft-Sanders goes from 320 allthe way up to 2500. It’s amazingpaper, it’s called Superflex Sandpa-per. After the 400 wet, I 800 the restof the car.

Now we’re masked up and readyto get in to the booth. After gettinginto the booth I’ve got to take thewheels off. Obviously we’re chang-

ing the color so I’ve got to remove alot of the parts in the engine com-partment, which makes it easier. Youtry to remove everything from theleft and right inner aprons and then Iuse aluminum foil for things that I’mnot going to remove. I’m not goingto remove the motor but I still wantto get as much detail as possiblewhich you’ll be able to see in someof these photos. I’m leaving the radi-ator and the A/C condenser in.

Tape really tight tape and you canget a really good job of changing thecolor. I’m first going to start with asealer that Sherwin Williams providedme with—Spectra Seal. It’s a 2.1 VOCcolor primer. I’m just going to use agrey primer on this which is a P27 andthen they have P27 black and also P27white which youcan intermix to getthe different colortones. Basically themixing ratio on thisis take the P27: 4 to2 which would bethe S42 to 2 whichwould be the H45hardener and thenthe solvent will bean ES15 and that’sthe 4. So 4 to 2 to 2to 4.

I’ve shot a lotof sealers. This onegoes on flat, no orange peel whatso-ever. It just flows out and then it’sshiny, so they say 15 to 30 minutes.You just have to be able to put yourthumb in it, check it on a test panel,because I always shoot a test panel,

and move your thumb. If it’s lockeddown you’re ready for base. On thebase I had them mix me up some Col-orado Red and I only apply one coatof the sealer, so one coat you’re good.Hats off to Sherwin-Williams. So onmy base coat we’ve got the Coloradored and I applied 3 coats. I’ve got asystem and anytime I apply a basecoat, I apply 3 coats. That way if the

car ever gets in an accident or I’mredoing it I have a system. Alwayscreate a system for yourself.The reducer I use is a 0025, so

on our base coats I’m going with3 coats. It’s 1 to 30 percent, sopretty easy mixing ratio with thiswater. It covered really well. Iwas really surprised. The firstcoat covered, second coat waseven better, and—with my sys-tem—3 coats because I’m paint-ing everything in pieces. You

want to use the right psi. I use 27 psion my base coat and a 1.4 tip with mySATA gun. Go to sata.com and figureout what you need.

I’ve got about 20 different guns soI’ve got a gun for every application. Soafter my 3 coats I’m giving it about 15to 20 minutes wait. I’m spraying it in across draft. Now I’m ready for my topcoat. The top coat that I chose fromSherwin-Williams is the 1100755 Ele-gance clearcoat. It’s a 2.1 VOC. Mix-ing ratio of the clear is 2 to 1 as reducerwith BUS4 to the UH 80 hardener. Soit’s 2 to 1 to 1.

This clear just lays down flat. Ihaven’t used reducer and clear in over10 years and I was pretty impressedwith the way the clear shot. I tend towant to put more mills on. We’ve got

no graphics so I’d usually do 3 coatson this job. However, I applied 5 coatsjust because I knew we’d be cuttingsome off and when you add reducerthat thins it out a little bit so it’s not asthick. That works out to 4 coats on this

project. I don’t think you want to gowith too much more. I’m waiting10–15 minutes between each coat.That way you don’t get too much buildon the edge. You don’t want it to bub-ble up on you or get air pockets onyour edges. So, four coats worked forme. Three coats would probably beokay but the extra is an insurance pol-icy with myself, just because I like the

flattened panels. So we’ve gottenthrough the paint stage, now we’reready for color, sanding and buffing.

Next month we’ll finish up theproject. This car has got stamp #7.

I’d like to thank my sponsors

on this project, Sherwin-Williams,3M, Grit Guard (which we’ll talkabout next month), and Soft-Sanders. Thanks to Woody and hisfamily for giving me the opportu-nity to do this great project forthem. I’m always looking for greatprojects so if you want quality, andyou want it done my way, which Ihope is the right way. Try to better

yourself at what youdo every day and tryto learn somethingnew. I’m definitelypracticing every dayto be better.I’ve got six cars goingto SEMA.Visit mysite to see what’sgoing on: huntingtonbeachbody-works.com orrichevansdesigns.comand don’t forget tovisit mopar.com and

follow me on my Challenger build.This thing is cool. You’ll be able toget the product to trick out your owncar in two hours. We’re supposed tobe done with that October 1. Untilnext month.


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The finished Red Mist ready for delivery to Woody in Florida

This front end gets noticed

Spraying the Colorado Red

From quick fixes to major structuralrepairs, OE information is the goldstandard for collision repair. Whenyou can demonstrate that a vehicle hasbeen repaired to OE standards, you as-sure the vehicle owner and the insurer

that quality and passenger safety areyour first concerns.

Access to affordable OE infor-

mation, such as that found in ALL-DATA Collision, can positively im-pact your entire operation. Guessworkis eliminated, meaning you never haveto worry about the vehicle comingback because it may have been re-

paired improperly.Having OE infor-

mation on hand forevery specific vehicleallows for greater effi-ciencies and accuracythroughout all shop op-erations, from estimat-ing and parts ordering toproduction, schedulingand repairing the vehi-cle. Important benefitsmay include a reductionin supplements and en-hanced negotiations

with insurers.OE repair information also makes itpossible to perform mechanical pro-

cedures that you may routinely out-source, which may include drivetrain,suspension or steering system repairs.What’s the result? Less money flow-ing out the door.

An all too common situationHave you ever had a vehicle comeback with a problem that was not therewhen you delivered it to the owner? Ifnot, you are one of the lucky ones.Here’s a typical scenario where accessto OE information could save time,money and a customer relationship:A customer brings in her 2010 HondaAccord and complains that the doorsounds hollow or tinny when shecloses it. Just a few days ago, you had

completed repairs on this vehicle afterit had been involved in a minor colli-sion. It was a quick job, and the vehi-cle checked out perfectly.

Suspecting that this condition wasnot connected to the repair, you checkthe ALLDATA Collision informationsystem to see if there is a technicalservice bulletin (TSB) covering thisissue. TSBs are issued by manufactur-ers to alert their dealers to known is-

sues and the correct repair procedure.TSBs are updated daily in the NewTSBs section of ALLDATA Collision.In the case of the Honda, the noise is aknown condition, covered by the man-

ufacturer’s warranty.So, in hindsight,

this situation may havebeen avoided. Ask yourself,“When is the best time todiscover a pre-existing con-dition?”

How about aprocess that prompts yourteam to ask the customer(when dropping off the vehi-cle) if any noises or otherunusual conditions existedbefore the collision? Someof you may already do this.

For those of you who do not, a little in-vestigation could lead to new up-sellopportunities for your shop.

Sourcing OE Technical ServiceBulletins right at the start could pre-vent situations, such as the irritatedHonda owner with the noisy door.Here is the TSB:

Door Sounds Hollow or Tinny WhenClosingAPPLIES TO 2008-09 Accord - ALL

PROBABLE CAUSEThe sealant between thedoor skin and the doorbeam has separated at oneor more of the glue points.

CORRECTIVE ACTIONRemove the old adhesive,and reattach the door beamto the door skin at the orig-inal glue points.

REQUIRED MATERIALSSealer or sealant (one car-

tridge repairs two 2-door vehicles orone 4-door vehicle)• 3M® Ultrapro® Urethane SeamSealer (requires 3M applicator gun08398): P/N 3M08361• 3M Ultrapro Autobody Sealant(fits a standard caulking gun): P/N3M08300• 3M Scotch-Brite® General Pur-pose Hand Pad: P/N 3M7447


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Automaker Actions and Announcementswith Janet Chaney

Automaker Actions and Announcementswith Jeremy Hayhurst

I-CAR Tech

I-CAR Tech

Amaradio Explains CRAwith Lee Amaradio Jr.

Amaradio Explains CRAwith Lee Amaradio Jr.

Consumer Callout

Consumer Callout

The Right Causewith Mike Causey

The Right Causewith Mike Causey

with Ed AttanasioShop Showcase

with Ed AttanasioShop Showcase

Say What?!

Say What?!

Dan Espersen is ALLDATA® CollisionSM Program Manager. Dan is a Gold PinMember of the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) and holds an AA Degree inAutomotive Technology. He has 17 years of experience in the collision industryand 17 years of experience in the automotive industry.

See Next Page

In WarrantyThe normal warranty applies.

Repair ProcedureAlways refer to ALLDATA® Colli-sionSM for safety procedures, identifi-cation of material types, recommendedrefinish materials, and removal and in-

stallation procedures. Alwaysrefer to the vehicle manufac-turer for questions relating toapplicable or non-applicablewarranty repair information.

NOTE: This procedure is in anoutline form that you can alsouse as a checklist for the repair.1. Remove the door panel andthe clear plastic shield.

NOTE: Be especially careful ofthe glue that holds the shield inplace; once it gets on your armsand your clothing, it can easilystain the interior. Cover it withmasking tape so it doesn’t ruboff.2. Inspect the glue locationsalong the door beam (the frontdoors have five glue points tocheck) (Figure 1).3. Use a plastic scraper toscrape off the old sealant fromthe door skin and door support

at the affected location(s) (Figure 2).

NOTE: The door skins are very deli-cate. Using metal scrapers or wedgescan ding or stretch the metal, damag-ing the door skin and possibly ruiningthe paint finish on the outside.4. Scuff the area with Scotch-Brite to

clean up any remaining sealant and topromote a good bond (Figure 3).5. Apply the new sealant to the origi-nal area(s) only. Be careful not toapply too much (Figure 4).6. Install the door panel in the reverseorder of removal, and note these items:• If any clips are damaged, replacethem.• Replace any damaged cable fas-teners.• The latch cable should be fixed tothe cable fastener with the latch in theunlocked position.• Make sure that the connectors areplugged in properly and the cables areconnected securely.• Make sure the window and thepower door lock operate properly.• When reinstalling the door panel,make sure the plastic shield is in-stalled properly and sealed around itsoutside perimeter to seal out water.7. Avoid opening and slamming thedoor until the adhesive sets (4-6hours). If you must close the doors,keep at least one window down. If theoutside temperature is below 70 de-grees, leave the vehicle inside theshop while the adhesive cures.8. Repeat steps 1 thru 7 on any other

affected doors.For more information on OE re-

pair information, please visit:www.alldata.com/promo/abn5tt/

NOTE:This Repair/Service Procedureis excerpted from a Technical ServiceBulletin published by the vehicle man-ufacturer, and is intended for use bytrained, professional technicians withthe knowledge, tools and equipment todo the job properly and safely. It is rec-ommended that this procedure not beperformed by “do-it-yourselfers.”

©2010 ALLDATA LLC. All rights re-served. All technical information, im-ages and specifications are fromALLDATA Collision. ALLDATA is aregistered trademark and ALLDATACollision is a mark of ALLDATA LLC.All other marks are the property oftheir respective holders.

Honda and Accord are registeredtrademark names and model designa-tions of Honda Motor Co. Ltd. 3M,Ultrapro and Scotch-Brite are trade-marks of 3M. All trademark namesand model designations are beingused solely for reference and applica-tion purposes.


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tions, if this is such a big industryproblem where is every one else. Wetold them the truth, they are either re-ceiving funding from A/M parts com-panies or they are afraid. So at the endthe A/G wanted proof and the DOIdidn’t believe we have a problem otherthan tracking the parts.

These are facts and while I ampurposely not trying to sound politi-cally correct, you can see we lack de-fined leadership because we all have adifferent agenda. I have my agenda andI dislike being treated like a fool andhaving substandard aftermarket partsshoved down my throat. It’s not thefact that I am being forced to use thembut that people continue to insult myintelligence by telling me they are thesame.

Someone expects me to deceivemy customers for their monetary gain.This is such a stupid issue that weshould be embarrassed as an industryfor even wasting our time and energy

discussing it. Call a spade a spade andmove on but please quit trying to provethat aftermarket parts are the same asOEM because no matter how many foofoo certification companies you startand no matter how many stickers youstick on them, they are “NOT” the same.

We have asked many insurance ad-justers to bring their family cars by andlet us install an A/M core support andbumper assembly for no charge. Eventhough they swear they are ‘like kindand quality’ we still have no takers. I re-ally doubt that I could get any A/M ven-dors to take me up on my offer.

So we need a defined collision re-pair process defined by the OEM’s, notthe insurer. The use of programs suchas ALLDATA® and Verifacts™ shouldbe mandatory. We need leadership thatis willing to call a spade a spade (theCRA).

We need laws that protect theconsumer from substandard repairs(Jackie Speier).

We need an Insurance Commis-sioner (David Jones) that enforces thelaw and an industry that make his de-


Leadership

See Leadership, Page 59

partment accountable.We need to stand up against the

politically correct associations (tellthe truth) and demand leadership thatis directed at our best interest as colli-sion repairers.

We will never be able to pleaseeveryone (too bad) but doing what isright is always the safe road to followand I still believe that, when peoplehave choice, most will do the rightthing.

We need a real shop certificationprogram (the kitemark program runby Thatcham® in the UK comes tomind) that is going to upset the ma-jority of shops. You have no businessrepairing collisions if you are notqualified to do so (Sorry for sugar-coating it).

Our leadership should not comefrom anywhere but inside the collisionindustry. Presently we are being led infive different directions by associa-tions that will not even speak to oneanother. This is the real problem andthe reason nothing ever changes.

The truth hurts, doesn’t it?


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Leadership 5 Series and Lancer Make Top Safety Pick AwardsAfter earning good ratings in all 4safety evaluations, the redesignedBMW 5 series achieves Top SafetyPick status among large cars. TheLancer earned a good rating forrollover protection.

The BMW was the first 5 seriesever to earn the Top Safety Pickaward, and the first BMW to achievethis since the Institute implemented anew rollover test requirement.

The Lancer, a small car, is thefirst Mitsubishi to qualify for the topsafety designation since the Instituteimplemented the new rollover test.

Top Safety Pick recognizes thevehicles that earn the highest rat-ings for front, side, rollover, andrear crash protection, and that haveelectronic stability control, whichis standard on the 5 series andLancer.

The good rating for side impactprotection is a significant improve-ment over the previous generation 5,which was rated only marginal in thesame test.

The Institute's side impact testrepresents a strike from an SUV orpickup.

Autobody News September 2010 Western Issue

Documents

autobody news

ca auto rates

congressman ryan

numbered car

replacement parts

ca mandates pressure

dealer wholesale parts

congressman leo ryan