April 2021 Southwest Edition by Autobody News

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AUTOBODYNEWS.COM Vol. 39 / Issue 4 / April 2021

Law Firm Announces New Liability Protection Documents for Automotive Shops in AZ, CA

Shops Stuck in the Middle in Battle Over OEM Vehicle Safety Inspections

Phocus aw, an Ari ona law ﬁrm, has created a new package of documents designed to protect automotive shops in California and Arizona from liability they face in the course of running their businesses and servicing their customers. The Phocus aw Automotive Shop iability Protection Package changes the game for mechanics and automotive shops, including those engaged in basic maintenance and service, substantive repairs, performance modiﬁcation, restoration and body work. The package includes docu-

by John Yoswick

ments and instruction that address many of the issues facing mechanics who face wrongful claims of faulty diagnosis, issues with repairs performed, damages that consumers say resulted from the auto shop’s negligence, and who face customers that won’t pay or that unfairly slander them online. Attorney and founder of Phocus Law, Michael J. “Mick” McGirr, started this new program to protect automotive shops. As a gearhead myself, ’m passionate about protecting the auSee New Liability Protection, Page 18

Auto Insurers See Greater Profitability, but Fewer Premiums by Ryan Smith, Insurance Business Magazine

Proﬁtability improved in the .S. private passenger auto insurance segment in the third uarter of , although premium volume declined, according to a new report from AM Best. The loss ratio of private passenger auto insurers improved by 9. percentage points year-over-year to 5 . %, according to the new Best’s Market Segment Report. The improvement was largely driven by a reduction in accidents due to a pandemic-induced reduction in the number of

cars on the roads and miles driven. ther prime factors were improvements that auto underwriters have made in recent years to enhance their focus on rate ade uacy, improving auto repair management and making greater use of innovative measures, AM Best said. At the same time, the reduction of drivers on the road also led to a . % drop in direct premiums written through compared to the same period in 9. ith the lower loss fre uency, AM Best predicted a four percentage-point improvement

Mike Anderson is convinced the vehicle safety inspection procedures called for by automakers in the M electronic service manuals as part of collision repair work have become the single biggest friction point in the industry. t’s not scanning. t’s not feather, prime and block.’ t’s these safety inspections, said training and consultant Anderson, of Collision Advice. My heart bleeds for shops. There are some out there really trying to do the right thing. But they’re

getting stuck in the middle. Anderson said virtually all of the automaker collision repair proSee Stuck in the Middle, Page 10

COVID-19 Ends Family Legacy at El Paso Body Shop with Deaths of Father, Son by Maria Cortes Gonzalez, El Paso Times

A large white banner with the words Satisfaction uaranteed in bright red letters hangs in the middle of Superior Bod y & P aint Shop on yer Street in l Paso, T . The sign is a ﬁtting tribute to the uality of service provided by Alfredo Medina and his son Julio Medina for years.

See Fewer Premiums, Page 20

Family members of Alfredo and Julio Medina talk about the father and son legacy Feb. 24 at Superior Body Shop in El Paso, TX. Credit: Briana Sanchez, El Paso Times

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An Illinois shop conducting safety inspections called for by the automaker found a broken dash carrier in a vehicle involved in a low-speed collision

People always think mechanics and body shops are out to take advantage of you. ith us it was completely the opposite. My father-in-law and ulio both wanted to

clean that profession. They wanted people to know that they weren’t going to be treated the same, Nancy Medina said, holding her husband’s trusty paint gun. n eb. , the remaining children of Alfredo Medina gathered with their sister-in-law in the shop to pay tribute to both the father and son who died of V - 9 within weeks of each other. The shop, which opened Sept. , 9 9, has permanently closed and will be for sale in the coming weeks. Alfredo Medina, , died Nov. 5 and his son ulio, , the third oldest of ﬁve children, who took over the business about seven years ago, died ec. 9. Alfredo Medina fought for days at as Palmas Medical enter. is son, who was admitted one day after him, died after days at The ospitals of Providence ast ampus. Though mourning their loss, Fred Medina Jr., the oldest of the siblings, said they wanted to rememSee Family Legacy, Page 8

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CONTENTS with Stand-Alone EV Center ..........................27

Assurant Donation to Help Dealership Employees Affected by Natural Disasters ......16 Car Thieves Hide Under Cover of Texas Power Outages ...............................................8 COVID-19 Ends Family Legacy at Superior Body & Paint Shop with Deaths of Father, Son .........1 Dallas-Fort Worth Maaco Owner Wins North American Award .............................................6 Gerber Collision & Glass Opens Repair Center in Queen Creek, AZ .......................................18 Law Firm Announces New Liability Protection Documents for Automotive Shops in AZ, CA.....1 Lucid Motors Receives Approval to Build

NATIONAL 3M Invests in asTech ........................................44

asTech Acquires adasThink ...............................32 Publisher & Editor: Jeremy Hayhurst General Manager: Barbara Davies Contributing Writers: John Yoswick, Janet Chaney, Toby Chess, Ed Attanasio, Chasidy Sisk, David Luehr, Stacey Phillips, Victoria Antonelli, Gary Ledoux Advertising Sales: Joe Momber, Griffin Reinhard, Norman Morano (800) 699-8251 Office Manager: Louise Tedesco Digital Marketing Manager: Bryan Malinski Art Director: Rodolfo Garcia Graphic Designer: Vicki Sitarz Online and Web Content Editor: Abby Andrews Accounting Manager: Heather Priddy Permissions Editor: Randi Scholtes Office Assistant: Dianne Pray

Serving Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arkansas, Colorado, Arizona, Utah and adjacent metro areas. Autobody News is a monthly publication for the autobody industry. Permission to reproduce in any form the material published in Autobody News must be obtained in writing from the publisher. ©2021 Adamantine Media LLC.

3M Automotive Aftermarket Division ................. 5

Honda-Acura Wholesale Parts Dealers .......24-25

Audi South Austin ........................................... 39

Hyundai Wholesale Parts Dealers .................... 42

Audi Wholesale Parts Dealers .......................... 47

Insta Finish ....................................................... 9

AutoNation Collision Parts ............................... 17

Ken Garff West Valley Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram . 21

Bill Luke Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram ............... 20

Kia Motors Wholesale Parts Dealers ................ 41

BMW of South Austin ...................................... 39

Marc Miller Buick-GMC ................................... 10

BMW Wholesale Parts Dealers ........................ 34

Mazda Wholesale Parts Dealers ...................... 40

Bob Utter Kia .................................................. 26

Mitsubishi Wholesale Parts ............................. 38

Car-O-Liner....................................................... 2

MOPAR Wholesale Parts Dealers ..................... 29

Certified Automotive Parts Association ............ 14

NOROO Paint & Coatings ................................. 31

Chevyland....................................................... 32

North Freeway Hyundai ................................... 30

Christopher’s Dodge-Ram ......................... 10, 37

Part of the Club ............................................... 37

Classic BMW................................................... 33

Peak Kia ......................................................... 37

Classifieds ...................................................... 46

Santa Fe Kia ................................................... 20

Eagle Abrasives ................................................ 7

SATA Dan-Am Company .................................. 23

Eckler’s Automotive ........................................ 11

Schmelz Countryside ...................................... 37

Regulations in Court......................................46

Emich Chevrolet.............................................. 37

Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center......................12-13

Service King Supports 844 Teammates .............19

Equalizer Industries, Inc .................................. 22

Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes ............ 15

Shops Stuck in the Middle in Battle Over

Fisher Acura.................................................... 37

Spanesi Americas ........................................... 48

Fisher Honda .................................................. 37

Steck Manufacturing Company ......................... 8

Flatirons Subaru ............................................. 37

Stevinson Toyota West .................................... 37

Batteries .......................................................40

Ford Wholesale Parts Dealers .......................... 45

Subaru Wholesale Parts Dealers...................... 35

Volvo Aims For All-EV by 2030...........................36

Fowler Honda ................................................... 6

Toyota of Laredo ............................................. 19

Why Car Accidents Increase After Daylight

Freeman Mazda .............................................. 18

Toyota Wholesale Parts Dealers....................... 43

Garcia Honda .................................................. 16

Volkswagen Wholesale Parts Dealers .............. 40

GM Wholesale Parts Dealers ........................... 27

Young Chevrolet .............................................. 28

Auto Insurers See Greater Profitability, but Fewer Premiums.......................................1 Catalytic Converter Thefts Skyrocketing Nationwide ...................................................44 CIF Announces Annual Donor Program ..............32 Cox Automotive Study Finds Car Buying Process Improved During COVID-19

Navistar Acquires Second Property in San Antonio

Crash Champions Picks Procurement Supplier ..16

Debut ...........................................................22 Tesla Owners are Being Saved from TX’s Unusually Cold Weather and Power Outages ...22 Texan Ford and Tesla Owners Use Their Cars to Power Their Homes ...................................16 Texas Was ‘Seconds and Minutes’ Away from

Cutting Out the Middleman on Electric Car Sales ......................................................43 Electric Vehicle Repair: No Room for Error .........38 Farmers Adds App Feature ................................14 Ford Recalls F-Series Trucks for Windshields that Detach ...................................................28 Garage Gurus Continues Scholarship Program ....6

KBB Names Resale Value Winners.....................22

Officials Say....................................................4

Kia Cadenza and Sportage Owners Should

Impacted by Texas Winter Storms .................14

Park Outside .................................................43 Louisiana Governor Announces Looser COVID-19 Restrictions ..................................20

COLUMNISTS

PPG Appoints Director .......................................44

Anderson - Nissan Launches ADAS

SEMA Challenges EPA’s Motorsports

Calibration Course ........................................30 Attanasio - Symach Invents Game-Changing Technology to Create the Shops of Tomorrow..36 Phillips - Benefits of In-Process Quality Control Technology Discussed by Lee Rush, Sherwin-Williams .........................26 Sisk - ASA Leaders Discuss Scanning, EVs, Data Access and Inaccurate Data ..................34 Yoswick - Artistic Auto Body Set for Expanding Electric Vehicle Population

Autobody News P.O. Box 1516 Carlsbad, CA 92018 (800) 699-8251 (760) 603-3229 Fax www.autobodynews.com editor@autobodynews.com

GM Investing $100M in U.S. Plants .....................4

Catastrophic Months-Long Blackouts,

USAA Donates $350,000 to Support Families

www.autobodynews.com

Technician ....................................................46

Pandemic .....................................................42

Service King Prepares to Make Its Sugar Land

ltedesco@autobodynews.com

AUTOBODY

Alex Goodemoot Named World Class

Phase 2 of Casa Grande Factory ...................19

Ahead of 2022 Plant Launch ...........................6

800-699-8251

INDEX OF ADVERTISERS

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OEM Vehicle Safety Inspections.......................1 Toyota RAV4 Fires Originating at 12-Volt

Saving Time Begins ......................................44 WIN Announces 2021 Conference .....................20

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Texas Was ‘Seconds and Minutes’ Away from Catastrophic Months-Long Blackouts, Officials Say by Erin Douglas, The Texas Tribune

Texas’ power grid was “seconds and minutes” away from a catastrophic failure that could have left Texans in the dark for months, officials with the entity that operates the grid said Feb. 18. As millions of customers throughout the state begin to have power restored after days of massive blackouts, officials with the lectric Reliability Council of Texas, or R T, which operates the power grid that covers most of the state, said Texas was dangerously close to a worst-case scenario: uncontrolled blackouts across the state. The quick decision that grid operators made in the early hours of Feb. 15 to begin what was intended to be rolling blackouts but lasted days for millions of Texans occurred because operators were seeing warning signs that massive amounts of energy supply was dropping off the grid. As natural gas fired plants, utility scale wind power and coal plants tripped o ine due to the extreme cold brought by the winter storm, the amount of power supplied to the grid to be distributed across the state fell rapidly. At the same time, demand was increasing as consumers and businesses turned up the heat and stayed inside to avoid the weather. “It needed to be addressed immediately,” said Bill Magness, president of R T. t was seconds and minutes [ from possible failure] given the amount of generation that was coming off the system. Grid operators had to act quickly to cut the amount of power distributed, Magness said, because if they had waited, “then what happens

in that next minute might be that three more [ power generation] units come o ine, and then you’re sunk. Magness said on Feb. 17 if operators had not acted in that moment, the state could have suffered blackouts that “could have occurred for months,” and left Texas in an “indeterminately long” crisis. While generators rapidly dropped off the grid as the weather worsened, operators monitored the difference between the supply of power on the grid and the demand for that power. As supply dwindled and demand grew, the margin narrowed to more and more dangerous levels, forcing grid operators to enact emergency protocols to either increase supply or decrease demand. The worst case scenario: Demand for power outstrips the supply of power generation available on the grid, causing equipment to catch fire, substations to blow and power lines to go down. If the grid had gone totally ofine, the physical damage to power infrastructure from overwhelming the grid could have taken months to repair, said Bernadette Johnson, senior vice president of power and renewables at nverus, an oil and gas software and information company headquartered in Austin. “As chaotic as it was, the whole grid could’ve been in blackout,” she said. R T is getting a lot of heat, but the fact that it wasn’t worse is because of those grid operators.” R T has three emergency procedures to balance the equation between supply and demand. Grid operators can call on other grids for help Texas’ grid has limited connections to the eastern U.S. and Mexico. But in this week’s storm, so much power went o ine that oth-

er grids couldn’t close the gap, in part because those grids were being stressed by the same storm. Next, R T can try to reduce demand by interrupting power to large industrial customers that have previously agreed to have power cut during an emergency. f that doesn’t work and it didn’t in this case R T has a last resort option: ordering transmission companies to reduce demand on the system with rotating outages for customers. That’s what happened in the early hours of Feb. 15. Usually, those outages are limited to less than 45 minutes. But this time, the outages lasted days. That’s likely because after R T ordered companies to stop providing power to customers, even more power generation tripped o ine, and it was not able to roll the outages eﬀectively, J ohnson explained. The amount of power R T needed utilities to cut back in order to prevent complete blackout was so great that the companies didn’t have exibility to roll power from one area to another to spread out the pain. The emergency procedures are designed to avoid overwhelming the entire Texas grid. If that had occurred, even as power generators recovered from the cold, R T would have been unable to quickly reconnect them back to the grid, J ohnson said. Grid operators would have needed to slowly and carefully bring generators and customers back online, all the while taking care to not to cause more damage to the grid. It’s a delicate process, J ohnson explained, because each part of the pu le the generators producing

GM Investing $100M in U.S. Plants General Motors announced Feb. 11 a $ 100 million investment in two of its manufacturing facilities—$ 93 million at the Romulus, MI, propulsion plant and $ 7 million at the Bedford, IN , casting operations. The Romulus investment will add machining capability, while the Bedford investment will increase the plant’s die casting

capabilities. Both investments will support increased production of GM’s 10-speed automatic transmissions used in the award-winning Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra light-duty, full-size pickups. Work will begin immediately at both locations. Romulus currently builds V-6 engines and 10-speed transmissions

used in a variety of Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles. Bedford asting perations is located in south central Indiana, and and produces transmission casings, converter housings, heads and small gas engine blocks used in Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles. Source: G M

power, the transmission lines that move the power and the customers that use it must be carefully managed. “It has to balance constantly,” she said. nce a grid goes down, it’s hard to bring it back online. If you bring on too many customers, then you have another outage.” R T officials have repeatedly said the winter storm that swept the state caught power generators off guard, and it previously appeared there was more than enough supply to meet demand. But the storm far exceeded what RT pro ected in the fall to prepare for winter. “The operators who took those actions to prevent a catastrophic blackout and much worse damage to our system, that was, I would say, the most difficult decision that had to be made throughout this whole event,” Magness said. N ine grid operators are working at any given time who make these sorts of decisions, said Leslie Sopko, a spokesperson for R T. “At the end of the day, our operators are highly trained and have the authority to make decisions that protect the reliability of the electric system,” she said in a statement. R T made significant progress” overnight Feb. 17 to restore customer power outages are likely due to ice storm damage to the distribution system. Some areas that were taken o ine will also need to be restored manually, according to R T. R T warned that emergency conditions remain, and that “some level of rotating outages” may be necessary over the coming days to keep the grid stable. We thank The Tex as Trib une for reprint permission.

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Garage Gurus Continues Scholarship Program Garage Gurus, a training and support platform from Tenneco’s DRiV division, will award up to $30,000 in scholarships to future automotive technicians who are accepted or currently enrolled in accredited, U.S.-based automotive technical schools, colleges and universities, or enrolled fulltime at a U.S. high school. Applications are now available on the Garage Gurus website for the opportunity to receive one of 12 $2,500 Garage Gurus Automotive Technician Scholarships for the 2021-22 school year. All materials must be submitted by April 30; winners will be announced on or about June 1. In addition to the application, students are also required to submit two letters of recommendation from non-family members, as well as a typed essay or video introducing themselves and indicating “Why I Want to Be a Top Technician.” Visit www.garagegurus.tech. Source: G arage G urus

Dallas-Fort Worth Maaco Owner Wins North American Award Helmuth Mayer, owner of Maaco Burleson, Maaco Fort Worth, Maaco Mesquite, Maaco Dallas and Maaco Wylie, was proud to win the company’s N orth American Syl Y oung Award.

Helmuth Mayer

This award honors one of Maaco’s ﬁrst franchisees, Syl Young, who coupled tremendous energy with a mechanical engineer’s problem-solving skills to become one of the most celebrated operators in the chain. The award is now considered the brand’s highest recognition and is presented each year to a franchisee who expertly exempliﬁes Syl’s

qualities of a positive attitude, while championing the Maaco brand and delivering best-in-class repair results to their community. “We were awarded ‘ MSO of the Y ear’ in 2019, celebrating the high-performing multi-store owners; however, this accolade means much more as it’s the highest recognition in a network that has over 400 locations,” said Mayer. “Being able to perform at such a high level when my background is outside of the automotive industry only further demonstrates that no matter the ﬁeld, everything in business comes back to providing an elite level customer experience.” Mayer has a diverse background in both the health care and entertainment industries. His motto throughout his ﬁve Maaco facilities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area is they all close at p.m. meaning if a customer calls to say they’re running 10 minutes late and won’t make closing time, they will keep the doors open and happily greet the customer. “Little gestures go a long way, so we accommodate customers

whether it’s staying open a little later, investing in a comfortable waiting area, supporting a local charity or taking a moment to walk customers through our paint process,” said Mayer. “N o matter if our customer is a eet company or a busy family, our amazing team works hard to make sure everyone feels confident entrusting their vehicles with us.” Mayer opened his first Maaco facility in 2017 and has grown to five locations, with his sixth shop opening shortly. He attributes success to creating a culture that supports customers’ needs, while also offering life-changing opportunities for his team members through performance-based compensation. “Automotive painting is a true art,” said Mayer. “Seeing the before and after transformation of these vehicles each day never ceases to amaze me. I am grateful to work alongside my amazing team members each day and this recognition is a testament to their outstanding abilities.” Visit Maaco.com to learn more. Source: Maaco

FOWLER HONDA

Navistar Acquires Second Property in San Antonio Ahead of 2022 Plant Launch N avistar International Corporation acquired a new property in San Antonio, which includes existing buildings that will house support functions for its under-construction plant in the area. N avistar’s total investment in the region will exceed $ 275 million and create more than 650 jobs, pending local incentive approvals. The expansion in Texas is part of N avistar 4.0, the company’s enterprise-wide growth strategy. N avistar’s under-construction 900,000-square foot plant in San Antonio will produce Class 6-8 vehicles, including new electric-powered trucks. The additional property will bring resources closer to manufacturing operations. “We’re increasing our investment in San Antonio because local and state leaders have created a business climate that supports manufacturing innovation and has attracted a talented workforce,” said Persio Lisboa, N avistar president and CEO. “Our N avistar 4.0 growth strategy is on track, and our new investment in San Antonio is another important step that will en-

able us to create a competitive advantage in the technology space.” The new property will also house a state-of-the-art truck validation center to test and validate components of the company’s growing electric truck business, and a truck specialty center to provide post-production customization of vehicles to support customers’ business needs. “Our expanded footprint in Texas near our manufacturing plant will allow us to dedicate space to new technologies like self-driving and connected vehicles, as well as support our growing investments in electriﬁcation and fuel cells, said Phil Christman, president of operations for N avistar. “Our team in Texas will work in tandem with our colleagues at our Lisle headquarters, the N avistar Proving Grounds and other operations to support making best-in-class products.” The new property is approximately eight miles from N avistar’s under-construction plant in San Antonio. Project engineers responsible for designing and ﬁnishing

the San Antonio plant expect to begin working at the new property by J une 2021. The new site will host hiring events and training for future workers to support the launch of manufacturing operations at the San Antonio plant in 2022. N avistar continues working with the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation, as well as local and state governments to support the company’s growth in the market. In March, the City of San Antonio and Bexar County will consider economic development incentives packages to support N avistar’s increased investment in the region. This new investment in San Antonio builds on other important steps N avistar has taken to drive its leadership in manufacturing advanced-technology products, including the company’s investment of $ 125 million in its Huntsville, AL, facility to produce next-generation big-bore powertrains. Source: N avistar

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Continued from Cover

Family Legacy ber how victorious and joyful the two Medina men were. “Even when they were both going through COVID, they both fought hard. They were ﬁghting until their last breath,” he said. While the siblings all remember hanging around their dad at the

guez, a daughter who lives in Tucson but always managed to be in El Paso when her parents needed medical care. Like his father, J ulio Medina learned everything there was to know about the business from his dad, starting with cleaning the restrooms. “The boys would come every Saturday when they were young and clean the toilets, clean the oﬃce and sweep and mop and then it escalated

“He used to say if we give it to them, they will find some way to come back to us. To be a blessing to others is a blessing in itself,” — Nancy Medina shop when they were growing up, it was J ulio Medina who took to his father’s trade. “Everything started with my grandfather. He came from Mexico and put up his body shop and had all his boys work there and then came the time when my dad started working at Datsun. And then my oldest uncle, who had Spraymaster, they bought this and then my dad paid him oﬀ, said Margarita Domin-

from there and working on the cars,” Dominguez said. N ancy Medina said her husband earned a criminal justice degree and thought about a career in law enforcement but never acted upon it. Instead, he worked alongside his father, learning every aspect of the business. Within a few years, J ulio Medina mastered chatting with his younger siblings in the spray booth

while spray-painting any vehicle from modern ones to a ‘ 50s Chevy truck with precision and ease. N ancy Medina said most of the texts from her husband were about his work. He took pride in getting the job done right, talking to customers and often doing more than he was asked. “He used to say if we give it to them, they will ﬁnd some way to come back to us. To be a blessing to others is a blessing in itself,” she said. Alfredo Medina’s children recalled how their dad welcomed every customer by calling them “Panchito” and patting them on the back. On their way out, he would playfully kick up his leg as if to kick them out. Father and son enjoyed working side by side. And even after he retired, the dad would help his son by doing job estimates. And they always appreciated their customers. “That’s why I wanted to honor them by saying thank you to their customers. They could have gone anywhere. Dyer is lined with so many body shops. We have one across the street and one farther down, but they

came here time after time,” N ancy Medina said. She said it was important to her that the eight or so cars that were in the shop when her husband was hospitalized were returned to their owners as if new. With the help of her husband’s employees and her father-in-law’s brother who runs Spraymaster, all the cars were ﬁnished. The last one was turned in a few weeks ago, but N ancy Medina couldn’t bear to be there. She let one of their faithful employees ﬁnish the task. “I got a text from him that day,” she said. “Y a cumplimos.” We kept our word. We thank the E l P aso Times for reprint permission.

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Car Thieves Hide Under Cover of Texas Power Outages by Elizabeth Puckett, Motorious

J ust like we saw over the summer of 2020 when car thieves used riots to loot Hellcats and all kinds of other cars, thieves once again proved how opportunistic they are.

Actually, since COVID hit the U.S., we’ve seen how criminals will never waste an opportunity to commit crimes. Such is the case in Texas, where the power was infamously out in most of the state last week and two Dodge Chargers were stolen, along with several other cars. This is the ﬁrst case we’re hearing, but it’s highly unlikely to be the last. According to a local news re-

port, ﬁve cars and nearly 5 keys at Ancira Auto Group, a dealership in San Antonio, TX, were taken during this “perfect storm” of criminal opportunity. While temperatures were in the single digits, someone broke into the dealership Feb. 17 before 6:30 a.m., before the manager arrived and found the front door was shattered and gates were open. After assessing the damage, they determined which vehicles were stolen, including a 2015 N issan Pathﬁnder, a eep rand herokee, a odge harger SXT, a 2020 Dodge Charger SXT and a 2019 Chevrolet Malibu. Between the keys and the cars, the total damage was more than $ 100,000, but the dealership says they are just glad no one was injured. Since the power was out, the dealership was essentially left unarmed, with no alarms working, and the security cameras were down. We thank M otorious for reprint permission.

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inspections are re uired only if an airbag deploys, but there often are inspections re uired even when airbags don’t deploy. cedures he’s reviewed include a Subaru, for example, is among variety of safety inspections a shop the automakers that call for safety needs to do on vehicles involved in inspections following any collision a collision. These inspections can repair of its vehicles. Speaking at an include checking seat belts, measur- industry event in late 9, Nicole ing the steering column, checking Riedel of Subaru of America reitersupplemental restraint system con- ated the automaker’s stance. very time, Riedel said of when the inspections are re uired post-repairs. ven if you are in New ork ity and vehicles are ust getting sideview mirrors clipped, you still have to do it. e will not deviate from that procedure. e are having conversations with apan to review that. But at The broken dash carrier was discovered in a 2018 Silverado with only moderate damage this time, we need you to do it every single time. nectors, looking for damage to knee Anderson said Subaru is hardly bolsters or seat components and oth- alone in this. e points to M proer procedures ust to gain the access cedures for the eep herokee needed to perform inspections. that state, f a vehicle is involved These inspections will vary by in a front-end collision, or the airbag M and by the year and model of has deployed, or both, the steering the vehicle, Anderson said. Some column must be replaced. Continued from Cover

Stuck in the Middle

e shares examples of similar M safety inspection procedures called for by ord, Mercedes-Ben , Toyota, Audi, BM , iat hrysler and yundai. The M procedures for the hevrolet Silverado include four or ﬁve pages of things a shop is supposed to inspect if a vehicle is any collision, Anderson said. A shop owner sent me photos of a Silverado he repaired, and when they removed the dash as part of the re uired safety inspections, sure enough, they found that the dash carrier was broken. That shop owner, Tim Paap of P aap A uto Bod y in Mattoon, , said that damage occurred even in a relatively low-speed mph accident in which the occupants were wearing seat belts. My only conclusion was their lower extremities were propelled forward into the lower dash, which absorbed the impact, Paap said. e have found several steering columns collapsed in what would seem like low-speed collisions. This is the reason the re uired inspections need to be done. Anderson said another shop he

works with has measured steering columns in one automaker’s vehicles, as called for in its procedures following collisions. f those, had collapsed. That’s a % rate, Anderson said. The friction arises because such inspections can potentially re uire a do en or more labor hours. Shops doing the procedures can experience push-back from insurers. But there’s also some shops pushing back because the added labor can lead to vehicles being declared total losses. recently got some shops really angry with me at some virtual meetings when polled them why they weren’t doing the procedures, Anderson said. asked them if it was because they were unaware of the need to do these procedures, if they thought they were smarter than the engineers and don’t think it was necessary, or if they’re ust afraid it will create an issue with an insurance company. t was about onethird each. Anderson said he’s not going to argue about whether the inspections are necessary or not.

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BMW custo and c

But ’m certainly not going to second-guess the M engineers who say they are, he said. very time we ﬁx a car, we’re playing Rus-

don’t do it, and somebody gets hurt, you’re liable. ou can’t say, The insurer wouldn’t pay me.’ An insurance company refusing to pay you to

BMW lays out damage that warrants replacement of a steering box on its 2020 330i, noting if a customer or insurer refuses “for cost reasons, a memorandum to that effect must be drawn up and countersigned by the party bearing the costs of the accident repair.”

sian roulette. f we don’t do these things, is it going to come back to haunt us e’re playing the odds. At the end of the day, if you

do it does not remove you from the liability. That said, Anderson also thinks insurance companies need to rec-

ogni e the tough position they are putting shops in when they refuse to pay for necessary inspections. t’s not fair, and it’s not right, for the shop or the consumer, he said. nsurers need to step up and be part of the solution to this issue, not add to it. Anderson said his goal in challenging shops on the safety inspections isn’t to make anyone angry or add to the friction, but to create awareness about the safety inspections and work toward some resolution to the issue. e’d like to see automakers, shops and insurers come together to find ways to reduce the friction. e sees a number of things he thinks could help. irst, automakers could refine the safety inspection re uirements by better defining when they are needed. Some call for some of the inspections only when there’s been an airbag deployment, which is helpful, Anderson believes. But others use such phrases as minor to moderate collision.’ think we need to get a better definition of what ualifies as a minor to

moderate collision,’ Anderson said. As an example, he points to a definition the National ighway Traffic Safety Administration has developed of a minor crash in relation to when child safety seats must be replaced. Some automakers may be headed in that direction. ast summer, General Motors said it was reviewing its published re uirements for inspections it currently says must be completed after any collision. Those procedures include inspection of the steering wheel and column, the instrument panel mounting points and brackets, and seat and seat belt mounting points. e recogni e that the re uirements and processes we had laid out are extremely labor intensive and vehicle invasive, M’s John Eck said during an online industry meeting. ne proposal ck said was under consideration would establish inspection re uirements for each of four levels of collision severity, ranging from ust visual inspections and diagnostic confirmation without any part removal for the most minor

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crashes involving no structural damage, up to the existing re uired procedures as part of repairs involving airbag deployment. “Once we explain to the engineers the realities of what’s going on in the collision industry and the challenge that repairers are facing, the light bulb goes on and they get

spection re uirements. or example, one M told me they put a plastic bushing in the steering column that’s made to collapse under inertia forces, he said about the re uirement to measure the steering column. f so, let’s spell that out so everybody knows why the inspection is critical.

“My heart bleeds for shops. There are some out there really trying to do the right thing. But they’re getting stuck in the middle.” — Mike Anderson it, ck said. So far, everybody has been very understanding of the need to readdress this and see where we can make changes that will help repairers. But like Subaru’s Riedel, ck emphasi ed that prior to new procedures being ﬁnali ed, M’s current post-collision inspection re uirements remain in place. ntil then, nothing has changed, ck said. Anderson said the automakers also could help by providing more of the why behind the safety in-

Anderson said a document from Toyota also offers another way automakers could provide more information and ustification for the inspections. t shows, for a list of replacement parts, the necessary procedures that must be completed and lists the possible negative effects if that procedure isn’t done. The automaker spells out, f you don’t do x, then y will not work properly, Anderson said. This is a very clear statement. Some automakers suggest in their documentation if a called-for proce-

dure isn’t done, it should be noted in writing and signed by the insurer and customer as a sort of hold-harmless agreement. ne automaker suggests noting inside the vehicle’s owner’s manual, where service and maintenance records are documented, if a procedure wasn’t done. Anderson said he understands legal reasons for this, but still has some concerns with it as a solution. f you don’t do it, and that customer sells that car to somebody else, they certainly didn’t waive their rights to that, Anderson said. The hold-harmless would need to indemnify the repairer as long as that vehicle is on the road. Anderson said he’s open to hearing from anyone who is interested in working on resolving the issue. e’d also like shops to help him compile data on what they do and do not ﬁnd when conducting the safety inspections. don’t know the solution, but if we get the right people in the room, including insurance companies and the Ms, we could come up with some solutions that keep shops from being stuck in the middle, Anderson said.

Farmers Adds App Feature armers nsurance on March 9 announced the launch of CrashAssist, a new feature included within the Signal app that helps connect drivers with emergency services in the event of an accident and offers help in reporting a claim, if desired. The crash detection feature will be available via app update to all Signal customers by midMarch. sing the same phone sensors already in use by the Signal app, CrashAssist will deliver a push notification if a crash is detected. ustomers will be prompted to confirm whether or not a crash occurred and if they are in need of emergency services. rivers can also access additional support services including tips to document the crash, share their location, re uest roadside assistance or report a claim. or more information, visit armers.com Signal. Source: F armers I nsurance

USAA Donates $350,000 to Support Families Impacted by Texas Winter Storms The SAA oundation, nc. has announced a 5 , commitment to help Texas residents recover from ebruary’s historic winter storm. The severe weather further amplified needs already exacerbated by the ongoing pandemic. Thousands of SAA members and many of our , SAA employees felt the impact of last week’s storms either firsthand or through helping members impacted by the winter storms that surged across Texas, said Harriet Dominique, chief diversity, inclusion and corporate responsibility officer at SAA. e want to continue to support those in need, including those facing homelessness and food insecurity. Six local and national nonprofit organi ations will receive grants to assist families, including Team Rubicon, San Antonio ood Bank, aven for ope San Antonio , Minnie’s ood Pantry allas , armony ommunity evelopment orporation allas and Metro allas omeless Alliance.

ur National perations enter and ongoing ouston Rebuild program are based out of Texas so this storm hit home for many of our Team Rubicon employees and volunteers, said William Porter, deputy director of operational support for Team Rubicon based out of allas. As soon as it was safe, these same teams were on the ground assisting those in their communities. This investment from SAA allows us to ensure our neighbors get back into their homes safely and help our communities recover. n , SAA and The SAA oundation, nc. committed million to nonproﬁt organi ations in support of pandemic-related relief, racial e uality and other critical needs across communities. Additionally, SAA employees gave more than million to nonproﬁt organi ations and logged more than 5, volunteer hours to support communities and those in need. Source

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Crash Champions Picks Procurement Supplier rash hampions, , an established leader in automotive collision repair, announced March 9 it has selected verall Parts Solutions, nc. PS and OPS Technologies as its preferred parts procurement platform. nterprise-wide implementation of the PS Technology Suite will allow rash hampions to leverage a standardized parts ordering solution to help accelerate the company’s growth in sales. rash hampions has worked with OPS to achieve a successful implementation of its parts procurement tool. hile rash hampions’ management system allows shops to manage repairs and accounts and communicate with all of their customers, the PS suite of products provides online access to parts ordering, parts availability, order status updates, return processing, parts credit tracking and delivery notiﬁcations. Source: Crash Champions

Texan Ford and Tesla Owners Use Their Cars to Power Their Homes by Fabienne Lang, Interesting Engineering

As the cold front lingers over Texas, creating ma or blackouts across the state, some of its residents are ﬁnding innovative ways to provide power to their homes using their cars’ battery packs.

Credit: Sjo, iStock

Two vehicles, in particular, have been drawing attention across social media sites like Twitter and Reddit ord and Tesla. A Texas man used his newly-bought ord - 5 ybrid to power his home for hours during the blackout. e ran it between to hours per day, and the ord - 5 didn’t use up all that much fuel as he

mentioned it only used a few gallons of gas in that time. ord Jim Farley even commented on the Twitter post about the story. The situation in the S S is so difficult, arley tweeted. ish everyone in Texas had a new 5 with PowerBoost onboard generator... t was also much uieter than the neighbor’s generator, which had to be refilled more often. Sharing his story on f 5 en ’s site, where ord - 5 owners and fans gather to share their trucks’ tales, the owner detailed how his ord with a Pro PowerBoost . k onboard not only generated heat for his home, but also envy amongst fellow Texans without the means to supply power to their abodes. is truck was able to provide his family light at night, TV time, a bit of heat and a warm mug of coffee from the coffee machine. The essentials. Tesla was another strong con-

tender in keeping Texans safe and warm during the power shortage. Some local Tesla owners have used the Tesla Powerwall to provide backup power during the outages. Several Tesla owners have taken to Twitter and Reddit to share the wonders of their savior Powerwalls, or simply their seemingly heroic Teslas. ne such person said My Tesla kept my family from free ing last night. n their Reddit post, Ra oo said their entire family slept in their garage, neatly tucked into their Tesla Model , which served as a sleeping pod with a 5kw battery. Another Redditter posted their Tesla provided 9 hours of backup power, stating how very grateful they are for powerwalls during Texas rolling blackouts. t’s clear to see how vehicle technology is keeping certain residents in tricky situations safe, and hopefully other owners will see these posts and do the same to keep safe and warm during the blackouts. We thank I nteresting E ngineering for reprint permission.

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Annette Sykora said providing assistance is an auto industry hallmark. Sykora, chair of the NA A oundation and dealer principal of Smith South Plains ord incoln in evelland, T , was discussing a recent 5, donation from global lifestyle and housing services provider Assurant to the NA A oundation’s mergency Relief und. The mergency Relief und helps us support our own, but we cannot do so without the support of dealers and our industry partners, Sykora said in a news release. Assurant provides services that support, protect and connect ma or consumer purchases such as automobiles, and to support the mergency Relief und’s mission, the company presented a check last week at the first-ever virtual NA A Show. The mergency Relief und began in 99 , offering financial help for auto and truck dealership employees who have been impacted by natural disasters. That help was needed last year. The fund

distributed more than , to dealership families affected by urricanes aura and Sally in Alabama, lorida, ouisiana and Texas, and wildfires in regon and the powerful derecho in owa. “Assurant is proud to support the NA A oundation’s mergency Relief und that provides financial assistance to dealership employees affected by natural disasters, said John Laudenslager, Assurant global automotive president. The Assurant oundation strengthens communities by supporting charitable partners that help protect where people live and can thrive, connect with local resources, inspire inclusion and prepare leaders of the future, audenslager said. More details about the NA A oundation’s mergency Relief und are available here. e are so thankful for Assurant’s generous donation that will help dealership families in times of great need, Sykora said. We thank A uto R emarketing for reprint permission.

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Continued from Cover

New Liability Protection tomotive community, said Mc irr. Many mechanics often ask me how they can protect themselves from customers determined to make their lives difficult through unfounded complaints and claims. Some shops believe their general liability or shopkeepers’ insurance policies will cover those situations. More often than not, that isn’t the case, and even when insurance is willing to step in, the resulting increase in premiums makes submitting claims unattractive. aying the proper legal foundation for avoiding and minimi ing such claims by employing the documents and guidance we provide is a far more efficient and effective course of action. Mc irr has always been passionate about mechanic shop protection. As a long-time drag racer and classic car hobbyist, he works in his own garage and has long and deep friendships and professional relationships with many key players throughout the automotive industry. rom his experiences and relationships, he has come to appreciate how important it is for those in the automotive industry to have speciali ed legal counsel at the ready. Many shop owners and mechanics have uestions such as whether they’re liable for damage to a customer’s car while testing or tuning it, or how to avoid baseless

online brand damage from dissatisfied customers. These are issues we have dealt with on numerous occasions with outstanding results, Mcirr said. e’s also uick to stress how important it is to be legally protected before a claim or issue even arises. Shops that buy and use the liability package we’ve put together will take a critical first step in minimi ing the likelihood and severity of any claims brought by customers. McGirr knows operating an automotive shop has plenty of challenges. But, he said, a shop owner’s ongoing concerns around liability are almost entirely avoidable. By employing the proper processes and implementing the use of proper documentation, and with a bit of training for staff, any shop can minimi e the concern of legal liability arising from disgruntled or opportunistic customers. All too often, mechanics learn the hard way they do not have ade uate liability protection. Not having sufficient protection in place can be a very costly mistake. Shops rarely address liability re uirements until after issues have arisen. The Phocus aw liability package has been custom-designed for automotive shops to remedy that mistake. Mc irr suggests employing the Phocus aw documents and procedures is like keeping up with preventative maintenance on a car a small amount of investment and effort now can save a great expense in the future.

or many years, Mc irr has defended auto repair shops and mechanics from frivolous claims and lawsuits. egal issues have become more common as more car owners conduct research online and try to pin problems on mechanics even when they were uoted for completely separate repairs. McGirr and the Phocus Law team have aggregated much of the experience and insight they’ve acuired over the years into the Automotive Shop iability Package, which is now being oﬀered to automotive businesses throughout Ariona and alifornia. A number of legal documents and materials are included in the package. The package serves to make sure customers understand their rights and obligations while also serving to protect the automotive shop from lawsuits. The package includes, among other things, a comprehensive liability waiver, terms and conditions for use by the shop, and the Mechanic’s egal Bible, a handbook on procedures and business practices for shops to follow in order to improve the experience of their

customers while also keeping themselves legally protected. Mechanics must also protect themselves from defamation and badmouthing’ as poor reviews can lead to ma or losses from their business, Mc irr said. ur liability package shields shops and mechanics from such occurrences. ith the new Automotive Shop iability Protection Package, Mcirr and the Phocus aw team have made available to shop owners the lessons they’ve learned and tactics they’ve developed. rucially, they’ve opted to do this at a very affordable fixed price, in the hopes that automotive shops access the protection they need without being financially deterred. This should allow them to proceed with peace of mind knowing they have proper liability protection, as well as a legal ally for whatever else arises. To sign up for the Automotive iability Package, or to learn more, email automotive phocuslaw.com or call - 5 - 9 . Source Phocus aw

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Gerber Collision & Glass Opens Repair Center in Queen Creek, AZ The Boyd roup nc. announced the opening of a collision repair center in ueen reek, A . This newly constructed facility was designed to provide maximum eﬃciency and is situated with great visibility on a ma or roadway and in proximity to new car dealerships. ueen reek is a rapidly growing community that has doubled in si e the past years. “The opening of this stateof-the-art repair center allows us to attract new customers and better assist our insurance clients, said Kevin Burnett, COO of Gerber ollision lass. e look

forward to expanding our brand in the Phoenix area as this location aligns with our repair centers in handler and ilbert to provide high- uality repairs and outstanding customer service. The Boyd roup is continuously looking to add new collision repair locations to its existing network in anada and the .S. nterested collision repair center owners are asked to contact J ason ope, vice president of business development and strategic pro ects, at 5 or ason. hope boydgroup.com. Source The Boyd roup

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Lucid Motors Receives Approval to Build Phase 2 of Casa Grande Factory by Joey Klender, Teslarati

Lucid Motors has received approval from the asa rande, A , ity ouncil to begin the construction of the Phase portion of its new electric vehicle manufacturing facility. ucid, an electric vehicle company based out of Newark, A, has been preparing for the initial production phases of the Lucid Air, the company’s ﬁrst production vehicle. The V will be built at the company’s asa rande factory, which has been under construction since ecember 9. The ﬁrst phase was completed ec. , , and is capable of delivering up to , vehicles annually. owever, the company has planned an expansion since before the initial groundbreaking took place several winters ago. After applying for an expansion, known as Phase , asa rande’s ity ouncil approved the pro ect March , which will ultimately see an expansion of . million s uare feet. The application forusthe site deContact about matching scribes the pro ect price in detail n Phase the Mazda , ucid Motors through is proposing to conCollision Parts Advantage Program!

struct an approximate . million S of mechanical industrial building space and approximately , parking spaces on approximately 5 . acres. This plan set is to provide direction on the Phase construction activities. According to documents obtained by Teslarati, the Phase expansion will consist of the following facilities Body in white expansion Stamping plant eneral assembly Powertrain plant General warehousing Several supporting and auxiliary structures uture phases will expand the existing buildings and add a ustomer xperience enter imley- orn Planning and esign ngineering onsultants is listed as the acting civil engineer and landscape architect. The pro ect was approved conditionally March , with the planning commission re uesting ucid perform the following revisions to the pro ect before it will be allowed to break ground xtend pedestrian sidewalks to con-

nect to Thornton Road sidewalk Provide additional landscape per table . . Meet all fire review comments regarding fire ow Provide inali ed Traffic mpact Analysis Provide geotechnical reports re ecting specific building locations for caissons and vertical load ucid details the Phase portion of its facility should begin later this year, enabling production of Pro ect ravity, our premier S V. Recently, ucid announced it would delay the production of the Air until the second half of this year, Bloomberg reported initially. ith the new Phase beginning construction later this year, it plans to have a vehicle manufacturing capacity of up to , annually, the company said. Recently, it was announced ucid had reached a merger agreement with hurchill apital, a Special Purpose Ac uisition ompany SPA that will take the electric automaker public. We thank Teslarati for reprint permission.

Service King Supports 844 Teammates hen unforeseen, pandemic-related challenges affected Service ing ollision’s employees in , the company was eager to show its support for teammates through the President’s und. n , Service ing established the President’s und, the organi ation’s own 5 c that serves as a resource for team members experiencing an unexpected or unusual financial obligation or crisis. The fund provides the Service ing family with the uni ue opportunity to both support fellow teammates and re uest assistance in times of need. ts mission was amplified in as the organi ation used collections to aid its deserving teammates. Since , the most employees Service ing made monetary donations to in a single year was team members. n , the comprehensive auto collision repair operator contributed donations to employees through the President’s und. Source: Service King

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Louisiana Governor Announces Looser COVID-19 Restrictions by David Jacobs, The Center Square

Louisiana will shift into a less restrictive set of rules to help control the spread of V - 9 after the current executive order expires March , Gov. John Bel Edwards said March . The new regulations, which will remain in eﬀect for days,

still have a lot of work to do before we get out of this pandemic. The statewide mask mandate will remain in place. Most businesses will be limited to 5% of their full capacity, compared with 5 % under the modiﬁed Phase currently in place. Sporting events will be allowed at 5 % capacity, up from 5%. a-

“We still have a lot of work to do before we get out of this pandemic.” — Gov. John Bel Edwards are similar to the Phase hite ouse-approved restrictions that were in place in the fall. dwards said he was conﬁdent the state was ready to make the change, but he urged residents to continue taking precautions to control the spread of the coronavirus that causes V - 9 and to get vaccinated against the illness as soon as they are able. e’re certainly moving in the right direction, dwards said. e

Continued from Cover

Fewer Premiums in the segment’s combined ratio for , from 9 . to 9 . . At the start of last year, personal auto insurers had been benefiting from a couple of years of positive underwriting and operating performance momentum. This re ected the robust risk-ad usted capitali ation of most writers and the positive impact of technology and data analytics on their underwriting, ratemaking and claims handling, AM Best said. These factors, along with the unexpectedly positive impact of V - 9 on auto travel, improved the sector’s profitability significantly. Twenty-one insurers generated more than billion in private pas-

pacity restrictions on churches will be lifted, though maintaining at least feet of space between people who don’t live together still will be strongly encouraged. yms and ﬁtness centers still will be restricted to 5 % capacity. Bars throughout the state can open for indoor service at 5% capacity, at least, and up to 5 % in parishes where the percentage of V - 9 tests that come back positive is less than 5%. Alcohol service still must

senger auto direct premiums through the third uarter. owever, for of those , their topline premium showed a decline compared with the prior-year period. Three experienced premium growth of % or less, and most of the sector’s leading auto insurers oﬀered premium discounts, rebates or refunds during the V - 9 surge. .S. roads are expected to remain less congested than normal for an indeterminate period in , which could extend the favorable loss fre uency trend, AM Best said. owever, cars traveling at faster speeds on less congested roads can cause more serious accidents, increasing the severity of claims. We thank I nsurance Business M agaz ine for reprint permission.

end by p.m. and customers still are supposed to be seated. ndoor live music will be allowed at venues that meet the ouisiana State ire Marshal’s standards, but audiences must remain seated. airs and festivals also will be allowed under certain circumstances. ndoor events will be limited to 5 % capacity up to 5 people. Providers have performed more than million V - 9 vaccinations in Louisiana, according to state officials, and about % of state residents have received at least one dose. ouisiana officials expect this week to get , doses of the newly available ohnson ohnson vaccine, which only re uires one dose to get the full effect. owever, state leaders were told March not to expect another ohnson J ohnson allocation for the next two weeks, dwards said. We thank The Center Sq uare for reprint permission.

www.autobodynews.com

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AUTOBODY

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The omen’s ndustry Network N has announced the schedule for its Virtual onference May -5, starting at a.m. T. This year’s theme, Stronger Together, will be re ected throughout the agenda of the two-day event that brings education, connection and celebration to collision industry professionals each year. The conference is free for N members and 9 for non-members. The Virtual Annual Conference will feature live and playback-enabled content to ﬁt attendees’ schedules topics relevant to all aspects of the collision industry interactive features a Virtual Scholarship alk open to families, partners and co-workers and national media panels discussing latest trends. More details and registration coming soon, but save the date on your calendar now. Source: WI N

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KBB Names Resale Value Winners Understanding a car’s resale value—what a vehicle will be worth down the line when going to sell or trade it in—can make the difference of hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in the long run. To help new-car buyers shop smart, Kelley Blue Book announced the 2021 model-year brand, category and top 10 winners of the annual Best Resale Value Awards, recognizing vehicles for their projected retained value through the initial fiveyear ownership period. This year marks the fifth Best Resale Value: Brand win for Toyota, which previously won the same honors in 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2019. For 2021, Porsche celebrates its fifth consecutive win as Best Resale Value: Luxury Brand. All vehicles in Kelley Blue Book’s Top 10 for Best Resale Value are projected to retain around 50% or more of their MSRP. This year’s top model, the 2021 Toyota Tundra, is expected to be worth 59% of its MSRP after five years. Source: Kelley Blue Book

Tesla Owners are Being Saved from TX’s Unusually Cold Weather and Power Outages by Simon Alvarez, Teslarati

As Texas ﬁnds itself in a harsh winter, struggling with rolling blackouts, Tesla CEO nM has expressed his disdain for the situation. On Feb. 17, Musk took to Twitter to note that Texas’s Electricity Reliability Council (ERCOT) is not exhibiting much reliability right now. For some Tesla owners living in the Lone Star State, however, the past days have not been as diﬃcult. Over the past few days, Tesla owners from Texas have shared some of their experiences, especially those who opted to install a Powerwall battery in their homes. Coupled with solar panels, Powerwalls allow the lights to stay on during a power outage. And based on what has been shared online so far, this is exactly what has been happening. A video shared by @dayyanl on Twitter, for example, showed his home was the only one left with lights as his neighborhood was plunged into darkness.

Service King Prepares to Make Its Sugar Land Debut Service King Collision is bringing 45 years of collision repair experience to Sugar Land, TX, a suburb of Houston. Come this spring, Service King will open its doors at 10215 S. Texas State Highway 6. The nearly 14,000-square foot auto collision repair facility will feature Service King’s new prototype program that merges modern ﬁnishes into an advanced auto industry environment. In addition to new Car-O-Liner Frame Rack systems and a fully air-conditioned shop, the facility will have HVAC systems that help minimize its carbon footprint through optimized performance. The shop’s spacious drive-under canopies are another distinguishing characteristic, which provides an indication of customer convenience, conﬁdence and trust as soon as the customer arrives. “What better way to celebrate our 45th anniversary than to introduce the Service King promise to the Sugar Land community,” said Service King President Jeff McFadden. “First established in Dallas, the company stands proud in our Texas roots

In a later comment, the Tesla Powerwall owner remarked several of his neighbors might be looking to purchase their own batteries after this winter’s experience. It is pretty hard to miss a house that makes its own power in the middle of an outage, after all.

Other Tesla Energy customers have also said their solar panels have continued to gather ample energy in the daytime, allowing them to store enough energy in their Powerwall for use at night. This has proven extremely convenient amidst Texas’ rolling blackouts, with some owners saying they have not even noticed the power from the grid being shut oﬀ. Even owners of Tesla’s electric cars have found some use for their vehicles’ large batteries. A Model 3 owner, for example, opted to use his vehicle as a warm sleeping pod for his wife, dog and new-

born daughter during a power outage. In a post on the r/TeslaMotors subreddit, u/Razzooz, the Tesla owner, noted without the all-electric sedan and its hefty battery, his family might have experienced a very rough night. Texas’ extreme weather has already claimed more than two dozen lives, with some struggling to find warmth inside their homes. In the Houston area, a family tragically passed away after succumbing to carbon monoxide from car exhaust in their garage. Another family also met tragedy after they tried to use a fireplace to keep warm. As of Feb. 17, more than 3 million customers remained without power across Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. More than 200,000 customers also lost power in four Appalachian states, and another 200,000 experienced the same in the Pacific Northwest. ERCOT has noted electricity had already been restored to 300,000 homes and businesses as of the evening of Feb. 16. We thank Teslarati for reprint permission.

POWER YOUR CUP

and looks forward to serving our customers and carriers in expanded areas across our home state.” Service King provides free online photo estimates as well as convenient rental options and towing arrangements. Undergoing a rigorous quality control inspection, the safety and satisfaction of each repair is Service King’s top priority. Like all Service King shops, the Sugar Land location will also oﬀer a lifetime guarantee on all repairs. The company’s certiﬁed technicians are designated I-CAR Gold Class to ensure all vehicles are returned to pre-accident condition. When Sugar Land’s new collision repair facility opens, it will mark the 28th Service King in the Houston area and 96th in Texas, with more than 300 locations systemwide. Service King Sugar Land will maintain the operating hours of 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday. To learn more about Service King, visit serviceking.com.

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24 APRIL 2021 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

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Please contact these dealers for your Honda or Acura Genuine parts needs. HONDA COLORADO

NEW MEXICO

TEXAS

Mike Maroone Honda

Garcia Honda

Honda of San Marcos

Rusty Wallis Honda

888-431-0294 719-785-5045

800-677-6632 505-260-5003

866-392-1313 512-392-1313

877-466-3272 214-328-3891

Colorado Springs

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-6; Sat 7-5 rick.williams@mikemarooneauto.com

Mile High Honda Denver

800-548-4730 303-369-7800

Dept. Hours: M-S 7-6 lhoover@autotree.net LOUISIANA

Albuquerque

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 8:30-5 Parts206959@garciacars.com TEXAS

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 8-5 www.bankstonhonda.com

Honda Cars of McKinney

800-943-4227 504-368-5687

972-569-4276 972-569-4222

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 7-5 Gene.chenault@hendrickauto.com

Walker Honda

Honda of Frisco

318-448-8255 318-445-6677

866-442-2711 972-731-3176

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-5:30 hondaparts@walkerautomotive.com

Kelly Grimsley Honda

Wholesale Parts Direct

844-453-5594 432-334-6632

800-234-4441 512-458-2910

Odessa

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 8-12 april@kellygrimsley.com

Dept. Hours: M-F 8-6 sales@wholesalepartsdirect.com

Irving

800-492-4464 972-790-6003

Dept. Hours: M-F 8-6 srichardson@mcdavid.com

Northside Honda San Antonio

800-727-8705 210-340-0831

Frisco

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 7:30-5:30 cedgar@mcdavid.com

Austin

McDavid Honda Irving

McKinney

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-5:30 parts@superiorhonda.net

Alexandria

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 8-5 darryldotsy@rustywallis.com

Lewisville

800-344-8611 972-219-0021

Dallas

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 9-5 csmith@hondasanmarcos.com

Bankston Honda

Superior Honda Harvey

San Marcos

Dept. Hours: M-F 8-5; Sat 8-5 hondaparts@mynshonda.com

ACURA ARIZONA

LOUISIANA

TEXAS

UTAH

Acura of Peoria

Acura of Baton Rouge

David McDavid Acura

Jody Wilkinson Acura

866-347-4507 623-792-2559

866-733-2861 225-756-6166

800-575-3553 512-401-5976

800-234-0875 801-323-0492

Peoria

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-6; Sat 7-5 dcavanaugh@vtaig.com

Baton Rouge

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 8-5 mkratky@mcdavid.com

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 8-5 rick@jodywilkinson.com

Walker Acura

David McDavid Acura

Mike Hale Acura

800-359-8555 504-465-8555

972-964-6044

800-292-4595 801-263-0202

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Mile High Acura Denver

Dept. Hours: M-S 7-6 lhoover@autotree.net

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 8-2 parts@walkeracura.com TEXAS

Autonation Acura

800-456-9568 719-955-1715

800-749-6227 713-371-4700

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-6; Sat 8-4 joe_benson@pikespeakacura.com

Plano

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 8-5 dgrajczyk@mcdavid.com

Hiley Acura

Murray

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 7:30-5 pgoold@mikehale.com

Fort Worth

Pikes Peak Acura Colorado Springs

Salt Lake City

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-6; Sat 8-5 dlavigne@acurabr.com

COLORADO

800-548-4730 303-369-7800

Austin

League City

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-7; Sat 8-5 CarranzaB1@autonation.com

888-454-0947 817-809-7762

Dept. Hours: M-F 7-6; Sat 8-5 parts@hileyacura.com

Sterling McCall Acura Houston

713-596-2337 713-596-2338

Dept. Hours: M-F 7:30-7; Sat 7:30-4 jlambert@sterlingmccallacura.com

autobodynews.com / APRIL 2021 AUTOBODY NEWS 25

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with Stacey Phillips

Tips for Busy Body Shops

Stacey Phillips is an award-winning freelance writer and editor for the automotive industry. She has 20 years of experience writing for a variety of publications, and is co-author of “The Secrets of America’s Greatest Body Shops.” She can be reached at sphillips.autobodynews@gmail.com.

with Stacey Phillips

Benefits of In-Process Quality Control Technology Discussed by Lee Rush, Sherwin-Williams One of the universal issues in the defects, comebacks, poor uality collision repair industry and a pain and missed opportunities. ith the point on every production oor is a introduction of new technology, that withuality Stacey Phillips lack of in-process control, is starting to change. according to Lee Rush, manager n his presentation, he shared of business development for Sher- insight about the benefits of using win- illiams® . uality technology to help identify n-process uality control has and correct issues throughout the reeluded this industry for years and pair process long before the final continues to do so today, said Rush. inspection. Not only is it awith huge Victoria liability risk, Those who don’t incorporate Antonelli but it can cost every collision shop in-process uality validation can profit and sales. suffer greatly, said Rush. This could mean poor elp reviews, restrictions put into place by insurance programs, an impact on the uality of employees hired and increased with Ed Attanasio liability for not performing a proper repair. Rush discussed the importance of validating in-process uality has a broad quality impact and many ramificauring a virtual presentation tions on your business, said Rush. given as part of the Society of olBy providing a process in which lision Repair with Specialists S RS a Gary Ledoux repaired vehicle is returned to the Repairer riven ducation R customer free of defects, safe and the Series, Rush discussed the impor- overall crashworthiness is restored, tance of validating in-process ual- it allows us to reduce and eliminate ity and explained how it differs from in-process uality delays. uality control , typically done Rush said it also increases the in many shops across the country to- number of uality inspectors. day. with Stacey Phillips nstead of one or two people hereas q uality control occurs in the business being responsible at the end of the repair cycle when for inspecting vehicles, everyone in the vehicle is inspected before being the business becomes a uality inreturned to the customer, Rush said spector, he said. This can greatly in- process q uality valid ation is live reduce the amount of time manageon the production oor, where ad- ment spends addressing and readustments can be made throughout dressing uality delays. the repair cycle.with Mike Anderson The key, said Rush, is to incorRush used the analogy of a porate digital tools that help achieve sports team where the coach gives these goals. an overview of the game and what This means moving away from went wrong. paper checklists and check the box A review at the end of the game procedures, as well as electronic standoesn’t do anything to improve per- dard checklists that do not relate to the formance, he explained. repair. Rush has spent more than Shop owners and managers who years managing collision centers do incorporate technology to validate and MSOs and has extensive expe- in-process uality typically experirience in business center expansion ence numerous benefits. These could using lean and process-driven oper- include cost reductions, more consisations. tent repair uality, reduced vehicle Over his career, he has found comebacks, improved cycle time, reshops lacked the technology to mea- duced liability and overall customer sure the dollar value of in-process and employee satisfaction.

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Rush shared best practices when implementing uality validation technology. The technology should lectronically verify, validate and measure uality from any device. ﬀer digital features that can be implemented at a low cost. ave high mobility and be simple to use so every employee can easily adopt. ommunicate to all employees in real-time to help them stay on task. ave the capability to increase the number of uality inspectors in the business. Provide a uality check and validation for each phase of the repair process prior to ﬁnal inspection. ave robust reporting features that track performance so all failures can be resolved uickly, minimi ing

Product Innovation

delays and improving on-time delivery. ocus on eliminating the maor reasons for production delays including parts mistakes, supplements and in-process delays due to errors and defects. lectronically document the repair for all stakeholders, including the vehicle owner, insurance company, certified repair program, etc. apture photos and allow for an audit of the shop’s standard operating procedures S Ps . e’re going to find that many of the M certification programs are going to be gravitating toward these expectations, said Rush. p until recently, Rush wasn’t aware of a method that was available to consistently and predictively measure the impact of in-process See Quality Control Technology, Page 33

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26 APRIL 2021 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

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with Erica Schroeder

Industry Insight

—John Yoswick is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon who has been writing about the automotive industry since 1988. He is the editor of the weekly CRASH Network (for a free 4-week trial subscription, visit www.CrashNetwork.com). Contact him by email at jyoswick@SpiritOne.com.

with John Yoswick

Artistic Auto Body Set for Expanding Electric Vehicle Population with Stand-Alone EV Center

Shop Showcase

can already see that specialCount A rtistic A uto Bod y among the shops geared up and ready for the i ing makes sense not only from coming wave of electric vehicles what we’re doing today, but certainwith Ed Attanasio ly as you look to the future, Mostul Vs . said. That’s what we’re trying to do anticipate where things are going, and try to get there before we have to, shop owner Terry Mostul said, standing outside the , -s uare foot stand-alonewith V center he’s esEd Attanasio tablished next to his company’s original shop in Tigard, R. like to be proactive rather than reactive. e acknowledges some of his colleagues have uestioned whether his investment in an V-only Technician Kyle Liddane performs a structural repair on a Tesla Model 3 in one of the three center almost two years ago wasn’t with Ed Attanasio aluminum bays at Artistic Auto Body’s location premature, at best. But the growth in Tigard, OR of V vehicles in Mostul’s PortArtistic Auto Body’s two shop land area market, coupled with the nearly weekly automaker announce- locations had ample experience with Vs prior to segmenting those vements in recent months of new elechicles to a stand-alone center. The tric-powered models, are an indicawith Ed Attanasio company, which has had - AR tion he made the right move.

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SEMA Show Goes On

old lass designation for years, holds a do en automakers’ certiﬁcations including some from Ms such as Audi, aguar, Nissan and Tesla that produce Vs. t’s that experience trying to incorporate V repairs into the company’s production that prompted Mostul to think about segmenting it out. There’s a long list of things we learned that motivated this, Mostul said. ne of those things centers around parts. ere we have space and loading docks to receive all our parts for this location, even the V parts that arrive by semi truck. e have a couple golf carts with beds on the back where we can deliver parts from here right to the technician, ust in time. And when you take an V apart, you often have to remove much of the interior to disconnect certain

Media and Publicity for Shops

things. So there are lots of interior parts that have to be taken out of the car and stored. Previously, all those parts were put on carts, and that’s ust not a safe place to put seats and trim, or the glass you may need to remove ust to get door handles out. The Artistic V center includes a large storage area of stacked and labeled bins where such parts can be safely stored and kept clean. amaged parts to be replaced are stored on carts near the parts delivery area all the Tigard location parts are now delivered to the V center, reducing truck and part congestion at its two other buildings to be mirror-matched as new parts are delivered. The space the V center oﬀers also enables Artistic to expedite repairs by stocking some of the most common V vehicle fasteners and other parts even some bumpers,

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with Stacey Phillips 800-274-1127

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800-525-5096

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ALBUQUERQUE

800-432-6944

505-884-9054 505-889-2950 Fax

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Southwest_Issue_0421.indd 27

ALBUQUERQUE

505-348-1234

505-247-7490 Fax

M-F 7am - 5:30pm Parts@qualitydeal.com

Oklahoma

Utah

Marc Miller Buick GMC

Ken Garff Buick GMC

800-456-4700

800-821-8797

TULSA

918-828-7070 Parts Direct 918-828-7094 24 Hr. Fax

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Quality Buick GMC

M-F 8am - 5:30pm jerad@marcmillertulsa.com www.marcmillerbuickgmc.com

RIVERDALE

801-627-6762 800-390-1317 Fax M-F 8am - 6pm

autobodynews.com / APRIL 2021 AUTOBODY NEWS 27

3/15/2021 5:03:39 PM

rebars and fenders that may not be immediately available locally for some models. Parts delays, though far less of an issue than they were in the past, were another consideration Mostul had in mind when adding the V center.

Blueprinter Sophia Goodrich prepares an estimate on a Tesla in for repairs

ust don’t like having an electric vehicle sitting outside in the wet and the cold, even if covered in plastic, Mostul said. t’s bad for the battery. So having inside storage here in the V center has been wonderful for keeping them much, much safer. And the customers love knowing the vehicles are stored inside too. Mostul said V repair production also has a slightly diﬀerent

tempo than work on other vehicles. There’s more involved in disassembly for blueprinting and more diagnostic work upfront, for example. or everyone involved in working on the vehicles estimators, technicians, parts staﬀ and even detailers there’s a learning curve that only steepens if they’re working on Vs only occasionally amongst a regular ow of other vehicles, he said. The V center allows those employees to speciali e in those vehicles. e started with a blueprinter, taking them out of the other building and saying, ou’re ust going to focus on these vehicles,’ Mostul said. And the minute we did that, boom, things really started getting traction. The V center includes ﬁve stalls for blueprinting, allowing for a mid-tech to be disassembling one vehicle as an estimator prepares the paperwork for another. Parts and M procedure research can be completed on the other vehicles before they are moved to storage or into production. All the cars can be fully charged via charging stations in that area, as well as connected to the automaker

Ford Recalls F-Series Trucks for Windshields that Detach by David A. Wood, CarComplaints.com

More than , ord - 5 and ord Super uty trucks may have windshields that can fall oﬀ the trucks in the event of crash impacts, greatly increasing the risk of in uries to occupants. ncluded in the recall are ord - 5 trucks built in Michigan from ct. , , to eb. , , and ord Super uty trucks manufactured in entucky between ct. , , and an. , . According to ord, the truck windshields weren’t properly bonded to the vehicles and may not stay in place, although no in uries or crashes have been reported. The ord truck windshield recall involves 9, trucks in the .S., ,9 in anada and , in Mexico. The automaker will begin sending recall notices the week of April , so dealerships can reinstall the truck windshields properly. Ford F-Series Super Duty Payload Label Recall ord also announced a separate recall for ord -Series Super

uty trucks with . -liter engines because labels and documents may have incorrect information. The recall includes 9,9 9 ord Super uty trucks in the .S. and , 5 in anada, all built in entucky between May , 9, and Sept. 9, . ord says the trucks have overstated payload capacity information on the tire and loading information labels, overstated accessory reserve capacity values on the safety certiﬁcation labels and overstated weight info on the truck camper loading documentation. A driver could follow the information on the labels and exceed the gross weight or axle weight ratings, overloading the suspensions and increasing stopping distances. ord says it’s unaware of any crashes or in uries related to the labels, but ord dealerships will need to replace the tire and loading information labels, safety certiﬁcation labels and possibly the truck camper loading documents. ustomers with uestions about either ord truck recall should call 866-436-7332. We thank CarComplaints.com for reprint permission.

via a standalone i i network, separate from that used to run the business or to provide connectivity for customers. e want to leave them there in that area until we are done with all those preliminary processes, Mos-

The EV center includes a large storage area of stacked and labeled bins where interior parts that must be removed can be safely stored and kept clean, separate from parts that will be replaced

tul said. aving it separate allows us not to eopardi e accuracy by trying to maintain the same ow we use elsewhere in production. Scheduling of Vs is also done diﬀerently. very incoming drivable ob gets put on a list, and instead of scheduling by date, we’ll notify

them when we have all the parts, and then bring them in for repairs, Mostul said. That may mean an V written later may ump ahead of one brought in earlier. But we keep in contact with our customers throughout the process. hile actual repair and paint work are currently done in the shop’s other buildings, that will change as the company plans to build the capability to do it within the V center, Mostul said. hile some of the company’s other mechanical work is done it in its other buildings, its lead mechanic, and its scanning and calibration work, are in the V center. e want to do as much as we can in-house, both so we can control it to make sure it’s done right, and also for cycle time, so we don’t have to take something to a dealership, which has extra days and costs associated with it, Mostul said. The V center’s charging stations are programmable, allowing charging to generally take place overnight, when energy rates are lower. All vehicles are fully charged the See Artistic Auto Body, Page 32

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autobodynews.com / APRIL 2021 AUTOBODY NEWS 29 2/2/21 10:46 AM

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with Stacey Phillips

Mike Anderson is the president and owner of Collision Advice, a consulting company for the auto body/collision repair industry. For nearly 25 years, he was the owner of Wagonwork Collision Center, an OEM-certified, full-service auto body repair facility in Alexandria, VA.

From the Desk of Mike Anderson with Mike Anderson

Nissan Launches ADAS Calibration Course Advanced driver assistance system A AS calibrations are an increasingly important part of a safe and proper repair, and that may prove a challenge for collision shops that lack relevant training and e uipment. or those ready for some M hands-on training, Nissan recently launched an A AS calibration course. ust as some automakers offer training on how to work with their particular aluminum structural components, A AS and calibrations are ust as important and uni ue to each automaker. ertainly, more shops are wanting to do a greater share of this work in-house because subletting it can add complications and negatively impact cycle time. Sometimes there are even concerns whether those doing the sublet work are doing it properly. know shops are eager for more M training related to A AS. e surveyed nearly shops last summer and found % would be interested in hands-on calibration training offered by an automaker. ne respondent said after months of being holed up because of V , the training could be in Antarctica and he’d still want to go. ven among those who said they weren’t interested at the time, many said this was only a temporary view because of V concerns or because they’d taken a revenue hit last spring. shared my findings with some of my contacts at various automakers, and Nissan umped right on it. asked Mark Zoba, manager of Nissan and N N T ’s ertified ollision Repair Networks, if could publish our conversation about his focus on M-specific advanced training. ull disclosure My company worked with Nissan and asTech to adapt this training for the collision industry.

Tell me more about how Nissan views A AS, and how important it is for shops to know how to repair this advanced technology.

A AS is an important element of Nissan’s ntelligent Mobility N M initiatives to deliver real beneﬁts to drivers. As a result, Nissan is pushing to make more A AS technologies accessible to all of our vehicle owners. Safety Shield is now standard across many models, and breakthrough technologies like ProP T Assist . is debuting on our upcom-

ing electric crossover AR A. Shops, like our dealers, need M-speciﬁc advanced training to properly ensure that all safety and A AS systems are functioning as designed. Thus, collision shops must be able to identify the systems present on a speciﬁc vehicle. A AS components also may be disconnected or moved during the repair process, re uiring a calibration. This is why a post-repair vehicle scan is also essential to help assess A AS system functionality and resolve all diagnostic trouble codes.

Q: A:

A AS training includes what shops need to know about paint thickness over sensors, for example, or calibration issues related to the unibody alignment and specs.

Q: A:

hat does the training look like here is it oﬀered

Although the collision industry oﬀers many courses online, we felt that this needed to be hands-on training. t’s about % classroom training, but the ma ority is devoted to actually setting up and performing calibrations on real vehicles. e originally thought the training needed to be three days given the amount of information. But we understand it’s diﬃcult for techs to be out of the shop, so we wanted

to condense the in-person training as much as possible. e piloted the course and found we could get it down to two days, though they are two very full days. Part of what makes that possible is the pre-work that is re uired before the course. or those in the industry who said they wished there was more meat in M training programs, we deliver it with this class. ven before setting foot in the training center, students complete e-learning modules on navigating Nissan Tech nfo for repair procedures, on understanding A AS components, etc. They have to know how to use Tech nfo before they show up. Students work on ﬁve new Nissan and N N T vehicles each has been bugged with an A AS problem that needs to be diagnosed and resolved. Students rotate through the vehicles, working in pairs, do-

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s this training the same that dealer technicians receive?

t is similar, but not exact. invited Collision Advice and asTech to attend the hands-on A AS and calibration training that Nissan currently oﬀers to our dealerships’ service technicians. e then worked together to translate that training for the collision repair world. All of the calibration processes are the same, but Nissan wanted this training to focus on what collision techs encounter when working on Nissan and N N T vehicles after an accident. ur collision-tailored

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ing ﬁve hands-on calibrations. Then each student has to do three calibrations by themselves to pass. There may be some students who may not pass this class. n fact, many that have taken the class have acknowledged that this is the most advanced and intense M training they have ever attended.

Q: A:

ow has Nissan addressed V -related concerns

understand the concerns, and also know shops need the information to work with our vehicles’ A AS systems. Shops can’t ust tell customers, ome back in a year and we’ll calibrate your vehicle’s systems then. f shops are performing these operations, Nissan wants to help ensure they have the proper training within a safe environment for learning. Nissan has V -related controls, which everyone must follow. Nissan worked with asTech to create a dedicated training facility for the course in acksonville, . There are ust students at a time, working with two instructors, within

a , -s uare foot space, so social distancing isn’t a problem. veryone wears a mask and gloves. veryone gets their temperature taken in the morning before they enter the classroom, and everyone is using their own factory scan tool. That reminds me ne of the things we do in the class is let students scan vehicles ﬁrst with their choice of aftermarket scan tool, then scan that same vehicle with the NS T factory scan tool. veryone has their opinion on factory versus aftermarket scan tools. e challenge them to compare the tools themselves, and students can see the results ﬁrsthand.

ho is eligible to attend s the training re uired by Nissan or N N T

The course is currently open to Nissan and N N T certiﬁed collision centers, and we’re working on a solution to make it available to the industry in the near future. e’re prioriti ing our certiﬁed shops, but we also want to help educate as many shops as possible.

asTech Acquires adasThink

CIF Announces Annual Donor Program

Repairify, nc. d b a asTech, a portfolio company of inderhook ndustries, , announced eb. the ac uisition of adasThink. adasThink retrieves information related to the vehicle-specific advanced driver-assistance systems A AS and identifies re uired A AS procedures and calibration based on labor operations in an automotive repair estimate. adasThink represents the th add-on ac uisition for asTech and inderhook’s st automotive-related transaction. inancial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The adasThink technology leverages the vehicle identification number to properly identify the vehicle’s build information. ithin the information, the technology identifies the A AS on the vehicle impacted by the vehicle’s damage. Additionally, this technology identifies M calibration re uirements and instructions. Source: asTech

The ollision ndustry oundation has launched a new initiative to recognize organizations and individuals who make tax-deductible donations annually in support of the mission of assisting collision repair professionals impacted by catastrophic life-changing events. The Annual onor Program offers specific benefits to donors, depending on the level of support they wish to commit to for annual funding. depends solely on the generosity of donations to conduct its work, and numerous donors within the industry provide funding year-over-year. Traditionally, the annual anuary ala is the main driver of fundraising. This year, was unable to host the gala, but donors have expressed their desire to continue supporting the organi ation. To become a annual donor, visit www.collisionindustryfoundation.org or reach out now via email to collisionindustryfoundation gmail.com. Source: CI F

t’s important to Nissan to help make sure our vehicles are fixed correctly. or our certified shops, the training is not re uired, although we strongly recommend it to shops that want to perform in-house calibrations. ne thing found interesting after we did the pilot class was that some shops said they wished they had sent both a technician and an estimator. t’s helpful for them both to experience firsthand how to use Tech nfo and see what’s involved in the calibration processes. This can lead to writing a more complete initial estimate.

Q: A:

So how does a shop get more information or sign up

Shops can contact my team at NNA ollisionRepairNetwork nissan-usa.com for more information. or Nissan and N N T certiﬁed shops, support may also include help registering for the course. Non-certiﬁed shops will be added to our current waitlist, and we will contact them once we open up the course to the industry.

Continued from Page 28

Artistic Auto Body night before they are to be delivered. Because of how we’ve positioned ourselves, it’s not unusual to have someone come from or miles away have their car ﬁxed here, Mostul said. So it’s important we return the V to them fully charged, and triple-checked to make sure everything is like new. Mostul said he sees his company’s V center as a logical step in the changing nature of the collision industry’s work. Being a body man is now so much than it used to be, he said. A bigger and bigger portion of the bill is related to the work you do with a computer at the diagnostic rate. ou really need the right facility with people who are good at that. That’s what we’ve tried to build here.

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Continued from Page 26

Quality Control Technology uality failures and dollari e them. The failures may be related to paint, body work, mechanical, parts defects or detail and delivery. “These are real issues that cause you proﬁtability and impact your ability to produce additional revenue every day, every week and every month, said Rush. e’ve become desensiti ed to them we accept them and tolerate them, saying that it’s ust how we do business. owever, it costs us proﬁtability and additional revenues. Today, it is estimated failures such as starts and stops, reworks, comebacks, reversals in production, etc., may represent a potential revenue constraint of % of a shop’s monthly revenue. e know time is money, especially on the production oor, said Rush. very minute of every day, we produce a product, or we don’t. e stressed the importance of using uality technology to help reduce and eliminate in-process uali-

ty-related delays and defects. To help measure a shop’s success, Rush said the industry is now using a new key performance indicator P sales per labor hour sold. This is the total sales divided by the total labor hours sold. or example .5 million in total sales, divided by , total labor hours sold e uals 5 . 5. nce the impact and cost of in-process uality are understood, Rush said shops can then work toward eliminating waste and improving proﬁtability. Rush highly recommends focusing a shop’s uality program on labor optimi ation to help dollari e the cost of failures and improve uality and outcomes for all parties involved in the claim. p until the early s, we thought about uality as right or wrong it looks good or doesn’t, it functions or doesn’t function, said Rush. Now, we look at uality from the perspective of labor optimi ation. Rush used the example of a shop bringing in 5 , in monthly revenue. f there are .5 failures

per day per technician, and the shop has eight technicians, that e uates to failures per day. f you multiply that number by an average of 5 minutes per failure, it e uals 5 minutes or nine hours of unproductive time per day. At sales per labor hour, multiplied by nine hours, that is , in lost revenue per day at % technician efficiency. , in lost revenue per day multiplied by working days e uals , per month in missed revenue , annually. Based on your labor efficiency, every dollar spent on in-process failures is a labor hour not spent generating new revenue, he said. ou can begin to calculate what the cost is to your business due to in-process failures because they can be measured. Rush advises shop management to implement a well-defined set of individual or departmental responsibilities for each step of the repair process and then ensure employees know exactly what is expected of them. This is revolutionary for our

industry, said Rush. This type of uality validation tech is a win for everyone, improving production and labor eﬀectiveness, customer and employee satisfaction, proﬁtability, cycle time and reducing liability. or more information, email eroy.v .rush sherwin.com. The presentation is part of the curriculum from Sherwin- illiams’s A-Plus niversity, which focuses on education and the ability to deliver it when and where it is needed. The courses and workshops are designed around the company’s core ethos labor optimi ation and connecting metrics for demonstratable improvement. Visit www.ecoleanuniversity.com.

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Historical Snapshot with John Yoswick

Associations Assembling with Chasidy Rae Sisk

Chasidy Rae Sisk is a freelance technical writer from Wilmington, Delaware, who writes on a variety of fields and subjects, and grew up in a family of NASCAR fans. She can be contacted at crsisk@gmail.com.

ASA Leaders Discuss Scanning, EVs, Data Access and Inaccurate Data conﬁdence is at stake. e Southeast sumer’s News work hard to gain the respect of our

n eb. 9, the Automotive Service Association ASA hosted a virtual media briefing with to discuss important Chasidy Rae topics related to vehicle electrification and data accessibility. Tony Molla, vice president of industry relations for ASA, welcomed attendees and explained the purpose of the briefing. with Rae A new year has Chasidy begun, we’ve got the results of the election, and we’re in the transition, so we wanted to share with you issues that are ongoing, things that may be on

customers and can’t let that be torn Sisk

down because of inaccurate reporting of information, not to mention the potential liability or assumed data breach that may have to be defended. AR A was e ually conSisk cerned about the breach and the information being incorrect and reached out to isher to elaborate on its platform data functions and how it ac uire its information. The

Western Associations

Southwest Associations with Chasidy Rae Sisk

Southeast Associations with Chasidy Rae Sisk

Northeast Associations

wards safety using autonomy. ur industry is challenged with these new technologies that re uire new procedures, e uipment, knowledge and information that aren’t included within the current information platforms that we rely on when writing estimates, he said. hen it’s not there, it can cause issues. These procedures re uire time, e uipment and training, so we thought it was important to deﬁne this standardi ed technology. A AS is at the top of that list, according to eVasseur, though it’s been going on for a long time, mentioning the need for pre- and postscans. A AS continues to be developed to assist drivers with autonomy and create safety. This isn’t really new, but it’s because more and more complicated. LeVasseur shared the collision

operations committee’s efforts to work with scan tool manufacturers, industry associations, Ms, repairers, educators and consultants, including Mike Anderson of Collision Advice, to look at various service procedures with safety as a priority. e gathered and documented a lot of information, filtering through for commonalities to help identify the differences in standardi ed technology. ver the past eight months, the committee has been developing a scanning compensation position in an attempt to reduce friction between payers and repairers. eVasseur hopes to have it finali ed by the spring , but he shared a sneak peek of the statement as currently written. n part, it states The Automotive Service Association acknowledges the act of scanning a vehicle

with Chasidy Rae Sisk ASA hosted a virtual media briefing on Feb. 9 to discuss important topics related to vehicle electrification and data accessibility

Midwest Associations

the rise and challenges that we see company does not mine informacoming in the not-so-distant future, tion from databases information is with Chasidy Rae Sisk Molla said. pushed to it with explicit consent Molla acted as moderator for the from , different data sources, informative presentation. Speakers including shops, dealerships, municincluded Ray Fisher, AMAM, pres- ipalities and more. ident and executive director of ASA; According to isher, he and with Chasidy Rae Sisk Robert Redding, ASA’s ashington AR A had a highly informa. . representative Mike LeVas- tive conversation which paved the seur, collision division director for way to find out more about the probASA and ASA’s mechanical division lem and get it fixed. director, Tom Piippo, AMAM. ASA wants to find solutions isher kicked things off by pro- to industry problems. Someone who with Chasidy Rae Sisk viding an update on ASA’s recent claims to have authori ation pushed communications with AR A af- inaccurate information to AR A , ter members reported consumer data and if that data was pushed out erregarding estimates written by inde- roneously, what other information pendent repairers, MSOs and dealer- could be provided that’s incorrect ships had reached AR A , wheth’m really concerned about this and er the work waswith completed or not. determined to find the leak. e’ll Ed Attanasio ur purpose in bringing this keep moving forward and pushing to AR A ’s attention was to fix for an answer and also a solution, a problem, not to bring attention to isher continued. a particular entity, he said. This is eVasseur then discussed manan important issue because the con- ufacturers’ continued trending to-

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using a ualified scan tool as a necessary and not-included operation that is legitimately expressed on a repair order with either a fixed cost in labor hours and or set dollar amounts. The statement goes on to say all additional operations to fix the T s are considered separate operations, not to be included in the scanning operation. t also included definitions and a series of facts about scanning and ualified scan tools. feel pretty good about where we’ve gone, and where we are right now, eVasseur said. The spirit of it is really coming into view. ASA is still gathering information on this topic and invites industry professionals to complete its ndustry Survey on Servicing Advanced Technologies at http survey.constantcontact.com survey a ehkvxue kkx cc a kk l n xi uestions Next, Piippo addressed the fact Ms are increasing production of electric vehicles, referencing M’s commitment to a % V lineup by 5. ight years ago, the govern-

ment was trying to push the agenda, and vehicle manufacturers and the infrastructure ust wasn’t there yet. Now, we not only have the normal Ms working towards this, but there’s new entries to the market that will have their cars on the market pretty soon, Piippo said. Right now, there’s more uestions than answers, but we know there will be more to come for both collision and mechanical repairers more technology, more tooling, more information. t becomes diﬃcult all around

ing tires, he uestioned what those modiﬁcations do to A AS, camera alignment and adaptive cruise radars. Maybe you can ad ust for that,’ but what documentation does the repairer have that authorizes the modiﬁcations As a repairer, if you reengineer outside the original specs, then you’re responsible for the changes and the liability that might go with it. e need to educate the industry because this is a serious situation that involves safety and people’s

“By staying involved, we can ensure that our priorities for independent automotive repairers are taken care of,” — Robert Redding ASA is staying on top of this and tell our members what they can do to be aggressive. Piippo also expressed deep concerns about modiﬁcations made to vehicles e uipped with A AS increasing the burden of liability for shops. iving the example of a pickup truck that is lifted with oﬀ-road-

lives, Piippo stressed. ith any modification on a car or truck, we don’t have a surefire way to calibrate the system to the way it was originally designed. Shops may need to turn these obs away until we can get better documentation from the or a validating testing source for these modifications we’ve got to be smart about this in the long run we’ve got to protect ourselves.

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The last topic Piippo broached was counterfeit M parts. These are branded with M names and logos everything looks like it should be, but they’re really knockoﬀs. ollision division has been dealing with this for years, but we’re seeing an increase in this on the mechanical side now, Piippo said. Sometimes you catch it, sometimes you can’t, but we’ve been working with the epartment of omeland Security and the Automotive Anti- ounterfeiting ouncil so there’s more to come. astly, Molla introduced Redding, who began by explaining ASA tracks state legislations and regulations, in addition to federal legislation, and the association is very active in numerous small business and

industry coalitions. By staying involved, we can ensure that our priorities for independent automotive repairers are taken care of, Redding said. Alluding to the recent change to a Joe Biden administration and how it impacts the automotive repair industry’s top issues, Redding explained, ur ob is to educate members of ongress and the Administration as to what matters to shops. e do by speaking with one voice both individually as an association and as part of numerous coalitions. “This was critical in the past year to ensure that shops were categorized as essential and included in key stimulus proposals throughout the year. Providing an update on electric vehicle policy, Redding noted .S. Sen. Chuck Schumer -N said at the end of that the electrification of the . S. eet would be a top priority once emocrats took the Senate. This has certainly become a priority in this first days, and think we’re going to see it throughout the Biden administration and also the th ongress. Some of this can be done without new legislation, Redding said. ne of Biden’s first executive orders pushes for clean and ero-emission vehicles to be used for all federal, state and local government eets, and it also indicates a goal of developing a carbon pollution-free electricity sector no later than 5. There’s a lot of pressure for Vs, Redding said, noting that, in upcoming stimulus package proposals, we see we’re going to have additional proposals for funding for charging stations and investment in other infrastructure training for Vs. The government’s focus on this is evidenced by the limate Pro ect, Biden’s plans to add 5 , V charging stations across the country, and the .S. epartment of nergy’s loan programs which offer financing for pro ects across the energy sectors. e’re going to see some dramatic V incentives, Redding predicted. ASA is also working on items See ASA Leaders, Page 40

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with Victoria Antonelli

Product Innovation

Ed Attanasio is an automotive journalist based in San Francisco, California. He can be reached at era39@aol.com.

with Ed Attanasio

Symach Invents Game-Changing Technology to Create the Shops of Tomorrow very year at S MA, the industry hen you sign on the dotted ing a new repair process, ix ine, gets to see all the newest technolo- line with Symach, it’s like taking on which reduces the actual throughput gy, and if you’ve been in it for any a very sophisticated partner, because time inside the shop by .5 to two significant amount of time, youLedoux have they play a ma or role in literally ev- days, while eliminating three to four with Gary witnessed the development of new ery aspect of your production. hours in labor costs per repair. tools and e uipment at a rapid rate. or years, Symach has Symach’s ix ine process is t’s no longer an evolution, but helped shops switch from conven- slashing cycle time like never before. more like an explosion tional repair processes to an innovae have developed a system tive lean process using leading-edge where it moves the car through the technology. process without interruption, as opOwner Osvaldo Bergaglio posed to the stop-and-start convenwith Stacey Phillips founded the company two decades tional way of fixing vehicles, Berago to embark on a research pro ect gaglio said. n your standard shop, that led to the development of the cycle time is four to six days and we ryTronic system, which uses cut- do the entire repair in one day. ting-edge technology to dry automoverything the company makes, tive paint. t was an immediate suc- including spray booths, drying rocess and today, body shops all over bots, V lamps, shop lighting, with Mike Anderson the planet use it. paint mixing rooms and the ix ine Owner Osvaldo Bergaglio’s company is well Symach’s ryTronic drying conveyor system, is designed and known for its products that have helped to take the collision repair industry into the robotic age technology allows automotive paint built using the highest uality comto cure in less than a minute. n ponents. All e uipment is produced nnovators have always led , Symach started the production at Symach’s head uarters and subthe way in every industry by taking of Robo ry, its first robot for auto- se uently installed by the compachances and pursuing ideas others motive body shops, and developed a ny’s trained experts and followed by thought were outlandish. hen duick new process to spray and dry on-site personali ed training. ison unveiled the lightbulb, people called it a conspicuous failure. hen bicycles first hit the market, someone wrote they would doom the popularity of the wheel forever. And when the first cheeseburger was invented in 9 , one critic deAt Symach’s headquarters in Bologna, Italy, the company has manufactured more than 2,600 robots scribed it as bi arre and predicted and more than 150 complete new automotive body shops with their Symach FixLine process the concept would op. But, obviously, we now use every brand and type of automotive n , Symach moved into its lightbulbs, ride bikes and eat cheese- paint, Symach Paint Application Pro- new ,5 -s uare foot factory in burgers in fact, did all three the cess SPAP . alderara di Reno, Bologna, taly. other day. Symach’s curing systems are Today, the company has more than or more than a decade, Symach well-known for being green and can employees as part of its internain Bologna, taly, has been producing reduce a shop’s energy consumption tional team, which includes installinnovative body shop solutions for by up to 9 %. t reduces a vehicle’s ers, engineers and trainers. the collision repair industry. They actual time inside the shop by up to nce a body shop owner dedesign and manufacture everything %, and will significantly reduce cides to become a Symach shop, the they sell, rather than using third-par- an average of three to four hours in company manages the body shop ty companies to assemble packages labor cost per repair. conversion from a conventional proof tools and e uipment. n , Symach began featur- cess to the ix ine process. Symach

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is more than a simple e uipment manufacturer it is a collision repair solution provider with a profound understanding and knowledge of the automotive collision repair process. Symach knows every shop is different, so Bergaglio first analy es the business before devising a custom solution based on the types of cars it repairs. e break it down into four categories classic cars, prestige cars, reconditioning or eets, Bergaglio said. e can work for any body shop or collision center in those categories, but they are completely different in some ways. ur approach is to look at the business model, look at their data and the activities in the shop. e’ve developed some software that allows us to do the math and design the shop oor for optimum efficiency. f you want to get a glimpse into the future of the collision repair industry, all you have to do is look at what Symach is doing today. urrently, Symach has sold more than , robots and more than 5 complete new automotive body shops with the new Symach ix ine process in urope, the Middle ast, Australia and North America, starting in 5. Bergaglio and his team are passionate and driven to innovate and invent new products that can wow the industry and change the way we fix cars. e unveiled seven new products this year and hope to continue at this pace, he said. verything we do is new and different and like nothing else on the market. nce you are a Symach customer, you won’t be able to go back to the old ways. e create technology that doesn’t follow trends it begins new ones.

Volvo Aims For All-EV by 2030 Volvo ars aims for 5 % of its global sales volume to consist of fully electric cars by 5, with the rest hybrids, and by , it plans for every car it sells to be pure electric. The future of Volvo Cars is elec-

tric and the new Volvo Recharge is the latest manifestation of its commitment to a ero emission future. The Recharge has all the beneﬁts of an S V but with a lower and sleeker design. t is based on the

MA vehicle platform and the ﬁrst Volvo model in history designed as pure electric only. ollowing the introduction of the Recharge and now the Recharge, Volvo ars will roll out

several additional electric models in coming years. The Recharge will go in production this fall and will be built in hent, Belgium. Source: V olvo Cars

36 APRIL 2021 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

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Electric Vehicle Repair: No Room for Error by Gary Ledoux

Vehicle technology has seen some tremendous changes and developments in recent years, including the use of high-strength steels, aluminum and magnesium, along with A AS systems and all the intricate technology that includes. And while the industry is still learning how to cope with that, we are on to the next hori on the fast-growing adoption of electric and electric-hybrid motive technology. nly a few years ago, car makers were more focused on diﬀerent fuels, leaner-burning internal combustion engines and more exotic transmissions. Today, the trend is toward full and hybrid electric. n , there are 5 fully-electric vehicles in , there were 59. Tesla is the name most people come up with when electric cars are discussed they command a large share of the market and are top-ofmind in the electric car world. But most every legacy car manufacturer has a dog in the hunt, and new technology brings with it new players, such as Rivian and ucid. riving the growth of this market is the expanding vehicle choice. ord has an all-electric Mustang now available for order, and an all-electric - 5 truck will soon be here. M recently announced an V ummer. Another growth-driver is eet adoption. Startup electric vehicle maker Rivian will produce an entire delivery eet for Ama on. President Joe Biden plans to replace all 5, government-run gas and diesel vehicles with electric vehicles, 5% of those belonging to the .S. Postal Service. And V driving range is getting progressively longer. That, together with exhilarating performance and lower costs, will soon start to change the face of the American eet. But who will work on these cars and how will technicians be trained and educated, especially those at independent mechanical garages and techs at collision repair shops? n a conventional vehicle, a technician may get away with a slight olt touching a wrong wire.

n a high-voltage V, touching the wrong wire at the wrong time could have serious conse uences. According to Dirk Fuchs, recently-appointed director of program services for - AR, it is one thing for a dealership technician to work on an electric vehicle all in one piece where proper procedures can be followed and all on-board appliances and switches are accessible and working.

The biggest diﬀerence in training education for technicians working on electric vehicles between the .S. and urope is government regulation. irst, there is uropean regulation R . This covers the most basic information concerning electric vehicles, and safety while working on them. Then, as a second step, every individual country in urope has its

“We need to all get on the same page because with the new high-voltage electric vehicles, there is no room for error.” — Dirk Fuchs t is uite another thing to work on a piece of twisted metal where switches may not be accessible, or may not work, or loose or ripped hot wires are exposed. uring the most recent virtual meeting, uchs, who has a degree in electrical engineering and has spent considerable time in urope, explained the uropean model for training and educating technicians for working on electric vehicles. A utob od y N ew s followed up with an additional interview. To start, there are several social and cultural differences between urope and the .S. which foster the dramatic differences in training, how it is delivered and how it is viewed. Typically, uchs explained, the uropean training model is not really training as such, but more an education. n urope, they learn more about why the problem manifested and why the vehicle must be repaired in a certain way. n the .S., training is solution-based diagnose a problem and fix it as uickly as possible. n a production shop, time is money. Another cultural difference is how training education for a technician is viewed. n urope, shop owners don’t think twice about sending a technician off for days of training at some remote location. The cost and production schedule are ad usted to allow for it. n the .S., getting a tech to any off-site training is tough and is always an imposition on productivity.

own rules and regulations regarding technician certification for working on electric vehicles. The strongest of these is ermany, with its V - regulation. or example, in ermany, to be fully certified to work on electric vehicles, could be as much as a .5-year process for a technician, including a very specific educational curriculum

under the umbrella of an apprenticeship program, culminating in a day high-voltage certification training with end-of-training final exam. uropean manufacturers rolling out their training programs under erman regulations worldwide will affect collision repair technicians in the .S. f you are a shop owner, at this point you are probably saying, don’t want to train a guy for two years ust to work on electric cars and sure don’t need any more government regulation and interference in my business Agreed. The reason all this training and education is mandated by the government is because the government covers medical costs if a technician is hurt on the ob. hen you go to an emergency medical facility in urope, the first thing they ask is if you are there because of a work-related accident or not, uchs explained. f you are, treatment goes in one direction. f not, treatment takes another direcSee No Room for Error, Page 40

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Continued from Page 38

Toyota RAV4 Fires Originating at 12-Volt Batteries by David A. Wood, CarComplaints.com

Toyota RAV fires are under investigation after the government received complaints alleging noncrash fires occurred where the volt batteries are located. The V battery B terminals may be experiencing electrical shorts to the frames that hold the batteries in place in Toyota RAV S Vs. This will cause a complete loss of electrical power as the RAV stalls, possibly resulting in a fire. The National ighway Traffic Safety Administration N TSA said seven RAV vehicles caught fire while driving and four S Vs burned while parked with the ignitions off. t was confirmed the ma ority of fires originated from the -volt batteries. The driver of a Toyota RAV said the vehicle went up in ames as he was trying to get fuel at a gas station. The driver says the RAV shut down as he was turning into a gas station, but he got the RAV restarted and made it to the pump.

Continued from Page 35

ASA Leaders speciﬁc to the automotive and collision repair industries. Referencing the Massachusetts Right to Repair referendum, set to go to trial in uly, Redding anticipates there will be multiple parallel bills introduced this year related to the vehicle data access issue. orking with the American Alliance of Vehicle wners Rights, ASA plans to drop several bills relative to their work to try to ﬁnd a path for independent repairs to have access to vehicle data. As the allotted time reached its end, isher noted, t’s really important, as an industry, that we understand the magnitude of the challenges we’re currently facing and what we’re looking at as an industry going forward. e’re on the cusp of innovation not seen for decades, and all these issues are really important because they are real. Vehicle safety must be at the forefront of all repairs, both colli-

e went into the store to prepay for the fuel, filled the RAV and tried to start it. alled my wife to get a tow truck to have it removed from the gas station, then went into station to tell attendant the situation. hile exiting the store noticed sparks and glowing embers dropping to the ground from inside the left front wheel area. turned back and asked the station attendant for a fire extinguisher, returned to car, with 5-lb. extinguisher, hood would not release, so sprayed extinguisher up under wheel, around hood cracks, and by this time the head light had a hole where the ames were shooting out, so sprayed fire repellent into the hole. After about sec extinguisher was empty. Told gas station attendant to call fire department as the vehicle was going up in ames. And according to the driver of a 5 Toyota RAV was driving on the interstate entrance ramp when the battery died but then was able

sion and mechanical, isher continued. hat we’ve heard here today is that we must understand the importance of seeking out information, following documented procedures, using proper e uipment, and we need to be serious about not compromising the integrity of what our professionals do every day. ives depend on it, and ’m proud of what our folks do. isher also announced ASA is collaborating with aﬃliates to host the ASA nited 5 onference and xpo, April -May , a virtual experience that mimics in-person events. Registration will open in late March. t’s time to put our glasses on and focus on what’s important and move forward in a positive way, isher concluded. ith challenges, there is a tremendous amount of opportunity. A replay of the media brieﬁng can be accessed at https www. youtube.com watch v R s Ml wo. or more information about ASA and its initiatives, visit asashop.org.

to start it back and drove ust a short distance when the hood started smoking. pulled over and turned the motor off and raised the hood, and the battery was on fire. The battery and electrical system burned. N TSA said some of the S Vs had been repaired after prior front-end collision damage, and the government also believes some of the batteries may not have been installed properly. owever, safety regulators claim the overall number of vehicle fire allegations with the battery as the area of origin is larger than in other similar vehicles. The investigation includes nearly .9 million model year Toyota RAV s. ar omplaints.com will update its website with results of the RAV fires investigation. We thank CarComplaints.com for reprint permission.

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No Room for Error tion.

So, the training education mandates are at least ualiﬁed. But what about working on electric cars in the .S. n my new position at - AR, our team is working with all car manufacturers to come up with a comprehensive training solution for safely repairing collision-damaged electric cars, uchs said. erman carmakers may think .S. training is way behind urope, while other manufacturers may consider the .S. approach ade uate. At - AR, we have one goal To ensure that every person in the collision repair industry has the information, knowledge and skills re uired to perform complete, safe and uality repairs for the ultimate beneﬁt of the consumer. This includes Vs. e need to all get on the same page because with the new high-voltage electric vehicles, there is no room for error.

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Cox Automotive Study Finds Car Buying Process Improved During COVID-19 Pandemic ox Automotive on eb. released its th annual ar Buyer ourney Study. The extensive study is based on a survey of consumers who bought or leased a new or used vehicle and is designed to offer a detailed look at the vehicle buying process in America, from start to finish. hile the global V - 9 pandemic has negatively impacted nearly every measure of life, the ar Buyer ourney B Study suggests the automobile buying process improved during the prolonged downturn. Both new- and used-vehicle buyers in report the process took less time and was more efficient than before. verall, buyer satisfaction reached an all-time high in . The ox Automotive ar Buyer ourney Study Pandemic dition involved a survey of , shoppers who bought a vehicle between midMarch and September and used the internet during the buying process. dentifying the consumers who were buying cars in is key to understanding the latest ar Buyer ourney Study findings. The average vehicle buyer last year was 5 years old and had a reported income above 5, . The above-average income was particularly true with new-vehicle buyers % of new-car buyers in had incomes above 5, . onversely, the number of new-vehicle buyers with reported incomes below 5, , at % in , was down % from 9, indicating that many lower-income buyers stayed out of the new-car market last year. n , % of vehicle buyers were identified by the ox Automotive research team to be Straight Shooters, a cohort of buyers more likely to be en or Baby Boomer suburbanites who are experienced at car buying and careful with finances. or comparison, in , only 5% of vehicle buyers were in the Straight Shooter cohort. ess experienced, budget-conscious buyers tended to stay out of the market in .

In 2020, Purchase Motivation Shifted Vehicles buyers in were more likely to be motivated by want, as opposed to need, according to the B Study. Many buyers in were motivated by attractive deals, whether they searched for them on their own or a dealer reached out with special offers. mportantly, 5% of buyers knew exactly what vehicle they wanted at the start of the car buying process, up from 9% in . Nearly % of buyers considered both new and used vehicles in , up from 5 % in 9. ith a high level of buyer certainty, the amount of time spent actively shopping and buying dropped significantly in , according to the study. Buyers reported spending an average of ust over hours in the entire process, from start to finish, down from nearly 5 hours in 9. New-car buyers spent ust over hours on the necessary steps, everything from shopping and negotiating the deal to taking delivery of the new vehicle. The biggest time savings in was in the online shopping phase. The Pandemic Revolutionized the Purchase Process As dealers adapted their business due to V - 9, consumers took advantage of a new digital experience. The overall vehicle-buying process was streamlined by proactive dealer outreach to in-market consumers and new digital retailing tools designed to drive efficiency. As a result, the number of dealerships visited and the amount of time spent in dealerships dropped in . One of the top steps added due to V - 9 was test drive home delivery. Notably, an estimated % of vehicle buyers said they did not test drive a vehicle at the dealership; however, of the buyers who took a test drive, approximately % were satisfied with the process, the highest satisfaction rating for any step. According to the B Study, as the vehicle buying process becomes more efficient, satisfaction levels increase. eavy igital buyers in the survey—those buyers who per-

formed more than half the steps online—were more satisﬁed with the process than ight igital buyers, who performed less than % of the vehicle-buying steps online. The eavy igital buyers reduced their time at the dealership by more than minutes compared to ight igital buyers, with the biggest time savings delivered in negotiating price and signing paperwork, the two steps that have historically had the lowest satisfaction ratings. The study shows eavy igital buyers were also more likely than ight igital buyers to trust the deal they received. saw a sharp rise in the usage of what ox Automotive researchers call New orm nline Retailers, used-vehicle-only sales sites that include Carvana and Vroom. According to the study, approximately % of car buyers visited a New orm nline Retailer during their buying process, a signiﬁcant increase from % in 9 and only % in . The B Study demonstrates

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that online shopping continues to be a central activity in the car buyer’s ourney, although decisive shoppers spent less time in this phase in . Third-party websites are still the No. destination for vehicle shoppers as they enter the process, with up to 9% of buyers noting they used a third-party site in , generally unchanged from recent years. Autotrader and elley Blue Book are among the most popular third-party sites, with % of new-vehicle buyers and % of used-vehicle buyers using one of these ox Automotive sites. Visits to automakers’ websites and traditional dealership-run websites declined slightly in but remained important, with % and 5 % of vehicle buyers visiting at some point, respectively. Source: Cox A utomotive www.autobodynews.com

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Cutting Out the Middleman on Electric Car Sales by Joann Muller, Axios

The auto industry is in the midst of the biggest transformation in a century, with cars one day running on electrons, not gasoline. But it’s not ust the cars that are changing. ow we buy and service them is being disrupted, too. nstead of selling cars through franchised dealers, emerging auto manufacturers want to sell electric vehicles direct to consumers, either online or in their own stores. But that’s illegal in more than half the states in America, which environmentalists and consumer groups argue is holding back V adoption and keeping the .S. from achieving emissions reduction goals. A coalition of V companies and advocates is working state-bystate to overturn decades-old laws that prohibit car manufacturers from opening their own stores or service centers. Tesla started the ﬁght in now newcomers like Rivian, ucid and ordstown Motors are oining the eﬀort, too. hat did the global pandemic

teach us t’s that people want a better way to buy a car, Rivian’s vice president of public policy, James Chen, told Axios.

Credit: Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios

At least states allow V manufacturers to sell directly to consumers, including alifornia, llinois and lorida. The latest was olorado, which passed a law last March. n eight other states, including New ork, Tesla fought for an exemption from the franchise laws, but it doesn’t apply to other V manufacturers. ne of those states, ashington, took up a bill this week that would remove the restriction for all V makers.

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The direct-sales model wasn’t built to sell Vs, said Jared Allen, a spokesman for the National Automobile ealers Association. t was built to limit competition for both sales and service by creating a vertical channel for manufacturing, sales and service that allows a single entity to control everything, including prices. M and ord initially backed the dealers in their ﬁght against Tesla, but now they have skin in the V game, too. M said it aims to phase out gasoline vehicles by 5 and ord has a 5 million stake in Rivian. Both companies are investing heavily in V development and asking dealers to do the same to get their showrooms V-ready. Daniel Crane, a niversity of Michigan professor tracking the issue, suggested a legislative compromise traditional cars could continue to be sold and serviced only by franchised dealers, but Vs and future technologies could be sold directly by both legacy carmakers and startups. We thank A x ios for reprint permission.

Kia Cadenza and Sportage Owners Should Park Outside

HOUSTON

n Michigan, where Rivian is based, the rules are exceptionally twisted V makers can conduct sales-like activities at branded stores, but the actual sale—transfer of title—must take place in another state. The remaining states, including Texas—where Tesla is building a new gigafactory—prohibit V manufacturers from direct sales. The dealer franchise laws were passed in the 95 s to protect car dealers from having to compete with factory-owned stores. As a result, carmakers like M and ord wholesale vehicles to independent dealers, who turn around and sell those cars to consumers at a markup. V startups don’t want a middleman selling or servicing their high-tech products. e have a desire to have direct touch with our customers, said Rivian’s hen. Neither does ucid, which plans to sell its luxury Vs at company-owned studios or online. ars would be picked up for service, or maintained by mobile service eets.

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A ia engine fire recall has been issued for nearly , cars and S Vs even though the automaker says an exact cause of the electrical short circuit condition is unknown. The ia engine fire recall includes Sportage S Vs and aden a cars with hydraulic electronic control unit electrical circuits that can short-circuit and cause engine compartment fires. owever, ia believes only % of the vehicles may be affected by the problem. This is an ongoing issue for ia as the automaker recalled , ptimas and Sorentos in for problems with the hydraulic electronic control units following eight complaints about fires. owever, ia says no fires have been reported in the recalled aden as and Sportages. ther than obvious signs such as ames and smoke coming from the engine compartments, drivers should be aware of illuminated warning lights or burning odors.

Kia Cadenza and Sportage owners can expect dealerships to replace fuses in the electrical unction boxes to prevent over-current conditions. or Sportage vehicles not e uipped with electronic parking brakes, dealers will install two amp fuses to replace the -amp fuses, and vehicles with electronic parking brakes will re uire 5-amp fuses in place of the -amp fuses. Sportage vehicles e uipped with electronic parking brakes will also receive software updates for the hydraulic electronic control units. Cadenza cars will have their -amp fuses replaced with 5amp fuses. aden a and Sportage drivers who have paid for related repairs may be eligible for reimbursements. The ia engine ﬁre recall is expected to begin April . Kia Cadenza and Sportage owners may call ia at 5 and refer to recall number S . We thank CarComplaints.com for reprint permission.

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Why Car Accidents Increase After Daylight Saving Time Begins by Aaron Widmar, The News Wheel

Now that March is here again, aylight Saving Time returns to move your clocks ahead one hour and force you to wake up early. owever, its effect on your life is far greater than robbing you of a much-beloved hour of sleep. Multiple studies have found aylight Saving Time actually affects everyone’s safety, such as a 5. % increase in workplace in uries and a significant rise in automotive accidents, according to .S. epartment of abor and Mine Safety and ealth Administration data. ere’s a look at why aylight Saving Time is dangerous for drivers. A 99 study by the niversity of British olumbia professor Stanley Coren, Sleep eficit, atal Accidents and the Spring Shift to aylight Saving Time, noted a % ump in traffic accidents the Monday after springing clocks ahead. t was based on data from ,9 .S. traffic deaths that occurred between 9 an 995.

An earlier study by oren found auto accidents were % higher the week following the onset of aylight Saving Time versus the week prior. As reported by the New ork aily News, some critics believe aylight Saving Time forces society into a state of chronic sleep deprivation, while others believe the increase in traﬃc accidents is due to darker morning commutes. Most people claim it takes a week for their bodies to ad ust to the change in schedule and sunlight, and experts like Virginia Tech Transportation nstitute’s Jeff Hickman assert the clock change results in fatigue and drowsy morning commutes. Thus, the result is an annual increase in car wrecks for the workdays following. n this day and age, we’re all wondering if aylight Saving Time is even worth having anymore. ntil it gets discontinued, be sure to get some extra sleep to adust yet again to the new schedule this month. We thank The N ew s Wheel for reprint permission.

PPG Appoints Director

3M Invests in asTech

PP on March announced John Stephenson, current business controller, industrial coatings, has been promoted to director, ac uisition integration. n this new global role, Stephenson reports to Michael McGarry, PP chairman and . Stephenson is responsible for the overall integration of PPG ac uisitions. e will work to prioriti e and achieve pro ect goals, plans and key actions assure integration plans meet PP ’s standards for operational excellence; and deliver strategic synergies. e will also serve as the integration leader for the recently announced Tikkurila ac uisition, sub ect to close. Stephenson brings a proven track record in a wide range of business unit and functional roles, and has played leadership roles in a number of key PP ac uisitions. Since oining PP in 9 5, he has held ﬁnance leadership positions in all PP industrial segment businesses and PP ’s global architectural coatings business. Source: P P G

M ompany on eb. announced a strategic investment in Repairify, nc. d b a asTech, a leading provider of remote diagnostic solutions, calibration services and key programming solutions to the automotive aftermarket industry. The strategic investment from M will help Repairify further expand and accelerate its proprietary tools, technology and service offerings across the Americas and urope. Terms and conditions of the investment were kept confidential and future collaboration will be announced at a later date. The M Ventures strategic investment in Repairify enables us to accelerate our solutions and offerings across the entire automotive ecosystem, said ris ollingsworth, president of Repairify, nc. e seek to make strategic investments that will advance our innovation and growth, said Ben right, director, M Ventures. Source: 3 M

Catalytic Converter Thefts Skyrocketing Nationwide According to the National nsurance rime Bureau N B , catalytic converter thefts have seen a signiﬁcant increase across the country since March , the start of the global pandemic. Vehicle thefts, car ackings and break-ins are all crimes we’ve witnessed trending upward for several months, and now catalytic converter thefts are also on the rise, said David Glawe, president and of N B. e have seen a signiﬁcant increase during the pandemic. t’s an opportunistic crime. “As the value of the precious metals contained within the catalytic converters continues to increase, so do the number of thefts of these devices. There is a clear connection between times of crisis, limited resources and disruption of the supply chain that drives investors towards these precious metals. A catalytic converter is a device that looks like a small mu er along with the exhaust system. t is designed to convert the environmentally ha ardous exhaust emitted by an engine into less harmful gasses. To do this, manufacturers use

platinum, palladium or rhodium. n recent years, the values of these precious metals have increased signiﬁcantly. As of ecember, rhodium was valued at ,5 per ounce, palladium at , per ounce and platinum at , per ounce. Typically, recyclers will pay 5 to 5 per catalytic converter. According to N B’s perations, ntelligence and Analytics study of reported thefts, there were catalytic converter thefts per month on average in , average monthly thefts in 9 and , average thefts per month in . uring this time period, the top ﬁve states for catalytic converter thefts were California, Texas, Minnesota, North arolina and llinois. n , there was a continual climb in thefts. anuary had the fewest number of thefts at 5 , but it continued to climb markedly throughout the year, with ecember having , thefts. As of the end of ebruary, states—Arkansas, eorgia, awaii, llinois, ndiana, owa, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, New ork, North arolina, North akota,

Rhode sland, South arolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia and est Virginia—are evaluating potential legislative actions to curb the theft problem. Removing a catalytic converter takes only minutes using some basic, readily-available, battery-operated tools from a local hardware store, said lawe. And for the vehicle owner, it’s costly due to the loss of work, ﬁnding and paying for alternate transportation and then paying anywhere from , to , to get your vehicle ﬁxed. The N B recommends vehicle owners nstall a catalytic converter anti-theft device. These are available from various manufacturers and can provide a level of security from theft. Park eet vehicles in an enclosed and secured area that is well lit, locked and alarmed. • Park personal vehicles in a garage. f not possible and vehicles must be parked in a driveway, consider installing motion sensor security lights. hile lights may not provide complete security, it may make

some thieves think twice, making them leave the area and your vehicle untouched. all local law enforcement and your insurer should you become the victim of a catalytic converter theft. n some cases, this theft is covered by insurance. The optional comprehensive portion of your insurance policy, the portion that covers damage caused to your vehicle not caused by accident, covers this kind of loss. owever, the owner will be responsible for paying the deductible. f your deductible is , and the cost to repair the damage costs , or maybe a few hundred dollars more, drivers may not opt to ﬁle a claim. The N B advises drivers to contact their insurer to report the theft and determine the best course of action. Anyone with information concerning insurance fraud or vehicle theft can report it anonymously by calling toll-free -T -N B - 5or submitting a form on the website. Source: N I CB

44 APRIL 2021 AUTOBODY NEWS / autobodynews.com

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autobodynews.com / APRIL 2021 AUTOBODY NEWS 45

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Goodemoot Named World Class Technician

SEMA Challenges EPA’s Motorsports Regulations in Court by SEMA Washington, D.C., Staff

Alex Goodemoot, regional manager for N.A. illiams, has been selected a orld lass Technician. This prestigious honor was bestowed upon oodemoot by the Auto are Association and the National nstitute for Automotive Service xcellence AS . The Auto Care Association and AS work together to recognize professional technicians who have tested and obtained AS certification in specialty areas to earn orld lass Technician status. There are an estimated 9, technicians in the .S., and approximately 5 , of those techs are AS certified. oodemoot was one of only individuals to earn orld Class Technician recognition for . e holds AS Master certifications as an automobile technician, medium heavy duty technician, collision technician and under car specialist, along with advanced level and certifications. Source: N .A . Williams

S MA filed an amicus brief in a lawsuit between the .S. nvironmental Protection Agency PA and ear Box . nc. B arguing against PA’s contention that the lean Air Act AA does not allow a motor vehicle to be converted into a racing vehicle used solely for competition. The PA first pursued this controversial interpretation of the AA as part of a 5 draft rulemaking, but it uickly withdrew the provision following a huge, S MA-led public outcry. n the B litigation, however, the PA again maintains that once a vehicle has been certified as a street vehicle, it cannot be converted into a racing vehicle, even if that vehicle is trailered to the track and is never driven on public roads. n its brief, S MA argues the lean Air Act does not apply to certified vehicles used exclusively on the track. S MA states the agency’s interpretation breaks from the plain language of the

AA, the legislative history and PA’s regulations and guidance. S MA notes the PA’s position contradicts its longstanding guidance and regulations and has previously stated it has no inter-

est in vehicles that begin their existence as normal, PA-certiﬁed production vehicles used on public roads and are then permanently converted to sanctioned competition-use only vehicles. n response to the PA’s eﬀorts to regulate race parts, members of ongress introduced S MA-sponsored legislation to

confirm what had already been understood for the previous 45 years, that the lean Air Act did not apply to vehicles modified for racing use only. The Recogni ing the Protection of Motorsports Act RPM Act is bipartisan legislation to clarify it is legal to make emissions-related changes to a street vehicle for the purpose of converting it into a dedicated race car. t also confirms it is legal to produce, market and install racing e uipment. S MA continues to work tirelessly to pass this important legislation to counter PA overreach. The B case is before the .S. istrict ourt for the istrict of Ari ona. The court has agreed to take up the issue after the PA has responded to S MA’s amicus brief. S MA will continue to fight the PA’s flawed interpretation in court while urging the .S. ongress to end the debate by enacting the RPM Act. Source: SE M A

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