Western Edition California Nevada Arizona
28
YEARS
www.autobodynews.com
House Passes Financial Stability Act, Includes Office of National Insurance The U.S. Senate passed the “Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010” May 20. S. 3217, authored by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, aims to promote financial stability by improving accountability and transparency in the financial system, to end “too big to fail,” to protect the American taxpayer by ending bailouts, and to protect consumers from abusive financial services practices. S. 3217, which has been amended since originally passing the Senate Banking Committee, establishes an Office of National Insurance within the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The office will be headed by a director who is to be appointed by the secretary of the treasury. The office’s main functions will be:
• to monitor all aspects of the insurance industry, including identifying issues or gaps in the regulation of insurers that could contribute to a systemic crisis in the insurance industry or the U.S. financial system; • to recommend to the Financial Stability Oversight Council that it designate an insurer, including the affiliates of such insurer, as an entity subject to regulation as a nonbank financial company supervised by the Board of Governors pursuant to Title I of the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010; • to assist the secretary in administering the Terrorism Insurance Program established in the Department of the Treasury under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002;
by John Yoswick Special to Autobody News
place. The demonstrations have led at least four insurers to pull back from asking shops to use certain non-OEM parts, and has led to new testing and certification efforts related to such parts. Chess’ Eileen Sottille of QPC latest presentation on such parts at CIC in April was halted at the last minute after he said he was threatened with a lawsuit by LKQ Corporation, parent company of Keystone Automotive.
See House Passes Act, Page 12
ABPA Conference Airs Aftermarket Parts Certification Issues Again The fallout in recent months from concerns raised about non-OEM bumper and structural parts raised by industry trainer Toby Chess was clearly on the minds of the parts manufacturers and distributors gathered in Indianapolis, Ind., this spring for the Automotive Body Parts Association’s 30th annual meeting. At the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) this past November and January, Chess demonstrated key differences between some non-OEM structural parts and the OEM parts they are being sold to re-
See ABPA Conference, Page 47
VOL. 28 ISSUE 6 JUNE 2010
Congresswoman Jackie Speier Wields Her Own Reciprocating Saw on Rebar Parts
Earlier this month Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) launched her own exploration of the structural differences between certain vehicle safety parts by sawing through an aftermarket reinforcement bar in her San Mateo district office. The reciprocating saw she used reportedly didn’t dent the bar from the vehicle manufacturer. Speier, author of California’s original anti-steering law, stated, “I’m concerned that vehicle owners who’ve been in an accident are unaware that replacing a reinforcement bar with one not designed by the manufacturer may compromise the safety of vehicle occupants in a subsequent collision. Airbag deployment can be thrown off by a reinforcement bar that doesn’t absorb shock in the way intended by the vehicle manufacturer.”
Speier conducted the test with the help of two well known collision industry experts: Lee Amaradio, president of the Collision Repair Association of California (steadying the saw) and Allen Wood, the association’s See Jackie Speier, Page 25
Giant Toyota Teams with Tiny Tesla to Build Next Generation Cars at Fremont, CA, Plant A $50 million investment will create a partnership between Toyota Motor Corporation and Tesla Motors to produce electric vehicles and bring jobs back to the former plant owned by GM-Toyota called the New United Motor Manufacturing (NUMMI) plant in Fremont, CA, said the smiling CEOs on May 21. CEOs Elon Musk of Tesla and Akio Toyoda of Toyota were joined for the announcement by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who also spoke, saying the deal was aided by tax incentives. “What we are witnessing today is an historic example of California’s transition to a cleaner, greener, more prosperous future,” Schwarzenegger said. According to the deal, both giant Toyota and tiny Tesla will be working together to manufacture Tesla model S sedan, which is a high performance electric sedan, competing with cars like the BMW 5-series. Initially, the automakers are expected to produce 20,000 vehicles. The partnership could create 1,000 jobs initially and eventually as many as 10,000 worldwide. Half of the jobs are expected to be at NUMMI and the other half would be with suppliers, Musk said. Less than a day after the an-
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (r) listens to Elon Musk announce the partnership
nouncement, United Auto Workers (UAW) was urging Toyota to hire workers that were laid off at the old GM-Toyota plant. UAW president, Ron Gettelfinger, said in a statement, “Our union’s hope is that this venture will give first hiring preference to former NUMMI employees who are already trained and highly skilled.” Toyota President Akio Toyoda got misty-eyed about his first drive in a Tesla Roadster in Southern California six weeks ago. He enthused, “Not only was I impressed by Tesla’s technology, but I also felt their energy, seeing that they made the vehicle in an extremely short time. “I felt the wind—the wind of the future,” Toyoda said.
See Toyota-Tesla, Page 35
Change Service Requested P.O. BOX 1400, OCEANSIDE, CA 92051-1400
Presorted Standard US Postage PAID Ontario, Ca. Permit No. 1