Island Fender

the years, his three children, Brandon Okahara, Kyle Okahara and Marlo Vincenti, worked at the business and now own and operate the company. In 2020, they learned Island Fender, established in 1937 by Van Takemoto, might be available to purchase.

“It was not a prompt decision,” said Carl Vincenti, business development manager. “Fortunately, we belong to a North American Performance Group facilitated twice a year by our paint company, AkzoNobel. Through these meetings, we’ve developed relationships with other body shop owners in this group and the opportunity to purchase Island Fender developed.”

Carl said the two business owners, Eddie and Van, have been family friends for many years. “In Hawaii, we think everything is connected in the communities we live and work in,” he explained. “At some level, someone in the family knows someone else and the family is extended through these relationships.”

“Takemoto, whom we refer to as Uncle Van, is a successful businessman and has been a leading figure in the collision repair industry for decades,” said Brandon. “Like Eddie, he is a wealth of experience and we’re thankful that he is willing to share information and consult with us as we continue to operate and grow.”

After months of planning, the purchase was finalized in October 2022. The business partners established a new company, Oka’s Collision Centers of Hawaii, which owns the two locations.

Kyle leads estimating and sales at Island Fender, Brandon leads estimating and sales at Oka’s and Marlo works with administrative team members, trains new employees and coordinates other aspects of the operation.

The owners are looking at best practices at the two locations and incorporating the best fit in each. They are also setting up a management system capable of tying the locations together, evaluating overhead and working to eliminate redundancy.

“Our long-range goals include growing our two facilities and possibly adding other locations,” said Carl. “We want to continue to build a certified, well-trained team of professionals.”

The company takes pride in providing customers with convenient service with compassion and ensuring a proper repair. This

Here’s What Happened in 8-Car Pileup in SF Blamed on Tesla’s FSD

By Iulian Dnistran InsideEVs

A Thanksgiving Day accident involved eight cars and injured nine people in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Tunnel. The driver of the car that caused the pileup—a Tesla Model S—blamed everything on the company’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature. Now, surveillance footage of the accident, obtained by The Intercept, shows how it all happened. The Tesla Model S, which reportedly had Full SelfDriving active, signaled a lane change, moved to the fast lane and then suddenly stopped, without having any car or obstacle in front of it. Almost immediately, traffic backed up and collisions began, and in the end, nine people—including a 2-year-old child—needed medical attention. On top of that, traffic was blocked for more than an hour, according to the report published on The Intercept, messing up people’s travel plans for Thanksgiving.

To make matters worse, just hours before the accident happened, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, announced on Twitter the EV maker’s Full Self-Driving Beta feature is available to anyone in North America who paid the $15,000 fee for the option. involves being certified by automotive manufacturers and training technicians. The company is certified by Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) and Assured Performance and is an I-CAR Gold Class shop.

The American car manufacturer states on its website FSD’s “currently enabled features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous.” At the same time, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it’s launching an investigation into the incident that puts another question mark next to Tesla’s ability to deliver reliable driving assistants. According to the NHTSA, Tesla vehicles were involved in almost 70% of the 392 crashes involving advanced driverassistance systems reported from July 2021 to June 2022.

In another investigation, the federal agency asked Musk for more details after he tweeted an update is coming in January that will allow users to turn off hands-onwheel alerts for its FSD software, after users of the feature told him they were annoyed with the high number of disengagements.

“We feel it’s important for team members to be well-equipped with state-of-the-art tools and equipment,” said Kyle.

“We treat all employees like family and take pride in providing a professional, fun and safe place to work,” added Marlo. “We want to ensure all team members have the basic needs to grow in our company and care for their families.”

The owners also make it a priority to implement sustainability in their business practices.

“We think about sustainability from a commonsense perspective and live ‘PONO’ by participating in these types of programs,” said Carl. PONO is the Hawaiian word for proper. If a person is living PONO, he said, it means they are living in balance with other things, places and people.

Brandon said they were one of the first companies in Hawaii to switch to waterborne coatings and installed photo voltaic panels to reduce their carbon footprint. They recycle various materials, from automotive parts to plastic bottles and cans.

The Oka family is involved in the Auto Body Paint Association of Hawaii and participates in professional development programs offered by the industry organization. They also support the local community and regularly participate in school programs and community fairs. They assist various organizations, such as the Food Bank, Toys for Tots, disaster relief programs, emergency responders and military members.

“We are always looking for ways to be a responsible business and support the local community where we live, work and our children go to school,” said Brandon. “We feel everything is connected here and make it a priority to stay involved with fundraisers as part of our commitment to provide ‘Service to Others.’”

The business has received numerous awards in Hawaii, including the National Sustainability award, the State of Hawaii Woman Business Leadership Award and Painter Sharpshooter awards. In addition, Oka’s has been recognized as a responsible business in its community by the State of Hawaii House of Representatives and Senate members.

Source: Oka’s Collision Centers of Hawaii

California Investing $2.9 Billion To Double Number of EV Chargers

By Dan Mihalascu InsideEVs

The government of California has approved a $2.9 billion investment plant to accelerate the state’s electric vehicle charging and hydrogen refueling targets for 2025.

According to the plan approved by the California Energy Commission (CEC) on Dec. 14, the investment will add 90,000 new EV chargers across the state, more than double the 80,000 chargers already installed. The energy commission estimates that combined with funding from utilities and other programs, these investments are expected to ensure the state achieves its goal to deploy 250,000 chargers by 2025.

California will allocate $1.7 billion to develop charging infrastructure for medium- and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles and $900 million for light-duty EV charging infrastructure. The plan also includes $118 million for ZEV manufacturing and $90 million for hydrogen refueling infrastructure.

The agency said the funds will support the deployment of thousands of zero-emission trucks, school buses and transit buses “to communities hit hardest by the impacts of pollution from medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.”

Funding for the CEC’s Clean Transportation Program is increased by 30 times compared to 2019 with an additional $2.4 billion from the recent state budget that will be spent over the next four years. At least 50% of it will be targeted to benefit priority populations.

“This transformative investment will deploy charging and refueling infrastructure swiftly and equitably to make sure drivers of zero-emission cars and trucks feel confident they can refuel wherever they go,” said Patty Monahan, CEC’s lead commissioner for transportation. “The plan will increase access to charging and hydrogen fueling for individuals, businesses and public agencies, while supporting our emerging manufacturing ecosystem and creating jobs.”

In November, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved a complementary plan for $2.6 billion in clean transportation incentives including consumer vehicle rebates and heavyduty and off-road equipment investments.

Both programs are part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s overall $54 billion California Climate Commitment. In August, California introduced a mandate for all new vehicles sold in the state by 2035 to be either electric or plug-in electric hybrids.

On a federal level, the U.S. Department of Transportation approved the electric vehicle charging station plans for all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, covering about 75,000 miles of highways.

The $1 trillion infrastructure bill provides $5 billion to help states install EV chargers along interstate highways over five years. States now have access to more than $1.5 billion to help build EV chargers.

Crash Champions Names Chief

Crash Champions on Jan. 9 announced Bill Davidson has joined the senior leadership team as chief human resources officer.

Davidson, a visionary leader with more than 20 years of experience developing talented and engaged teams across multiple industries, joins Crash Champions after serving as senior vice president and chief people officer at Insurance Auto Auctions (IAA). As a senior leader at IAA, Davidson led the organization’s people strategy and played a crucial role in supporting IAA’s overall business plan. He led critical strategic initiatives, including talent, organization and performance management, team member engagement, training, career development, compensation and benefits. He also led the people strategy and change management efforts of IAA’s spin-off to an independent public company.

Davidson earned an MBA from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University, a master’s certificate in human resources management from Villanova University, and a bachelor’s degree in business administration at Strayer University.

Source: Crash Champions