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Vol. 12 / Issue 7 / April 2023
REGIONAL NEWS
IA School’s Mechanics Club Gets HandsOn With Collision Repairs By Daniel Charland Dyersville Commercial
Credit: Shutterstock
IIHS Research Scientist: ‘It Seems Calibration is the Weakest Link’ By Abby Andrews Autobody News
A first-of-its-kind consumer survey conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) showed the majority of people who own a vehicle with increasingly popular ADAS features are reporting issues with those features after a repair for any reason—but especially when the repair was the result of crash damage, or a windshield replacement. While the self-reported survey of a sample of about 500 owners in the U.S. cannot say exactly how widespread the problem really is in the entire registered fleet, it’s a clear sign repairers need to invest in the tools and training to perform calibrations, and automakers need to make that information more accessible, said Alexandra Mueller, senior research scientist at IIHS and the study’s designer. “Changes need to be made, and
there are definitely solutions that can be implemented,” Mueller said. The survey, conducted in 2021, sought out owners of vehicles model year 2011 and newer, that had certain popular ADAS features: front crash prevention, which includes automatic emergency braking and front collision warning; blind spot monitoring; and cameras, including those providing rear and 360-degree views. Of the 3,000 owners contacted, about 500 had taken in their vehicles for repairs and participated in the survey; 40% of those said their vehicles were a model year 2019 or newer. Post-repair problems with ADAS were substantially more common among people who had features repaired because of crash damage or in connection with a windshield replacement. About two-thirds of owners whose ADAS feature repairs involved windshield replacement and l CONTINUED ON PAGE 32
The Beckman Catholic High School B-TECH/Mechanics Club attended an auto repair visit/demonstration day Feb. 24 with Southwest Tech at Auto Tech. According to Steven Lueck, assistant principal at Beckman Catholic, the Mechanics Club is a fairly new, but large, club of students who have a strong interest in auto mechanics and like to be involved in hands-on activities. “A year or two ago, several students started asking about possibly having classes regarding anything with diesel mechanics,” Lueck said. “Instead of creating
an entire class, we wanted to start with making an afterschool club. They meet up in different places throughout the community to look at
Beckman Catholic student Noble Hoeger, left, learns about spot welding from Nick Klein, right, main collision tech at Auto Tech. Credit: Daniel Charland/Dyersville Commercial l CONTINUED ON PAGE 17
REGIONAL NEWS
MN Auto Body Shop Owner Builds New Shop Featuring Full Transparency In an age where everyone covets transparency and information, a body shop in Brainerd, MN, is taking it to a new level. In his latest shop, Josh Shaw, COO of Shannon’s Auto Body, is incorporating a layout that enables his customers to see the workings of a body shop in action while they wait to drop off or pick up their vehicles. It’s his second facility, and he is excited to be part of a revitalization of Brainerd, in the eastern part of this city of approximately 14,500 people.
Moving into a former retail location to accommodate his first 17,500-square foot shop, Shaw has worked for more than a year to design and build out his new 32,000-square foot space. He worked from scratch, including multiple windows his customers can use to see what’s happening at Shannon’s Auto Body. Shannon’s Auto Body has been in operation since 1996 and has built a strong customer base that includes second- and third-generation clients. l CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
INSIDE THIS ISSUE 12
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PERMIT #288 ANAHEIM, CA
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Columnist Mike Anderson: My ‘Wish List’ of Changes to Improve the
Collision Repair Industry
Columnist Ed Attanasio: Tesla Owners Club of LA Gets Up-Close Look at Repair Experience at Bistagne Bros. Columnist Stacey Phillips: Mitchell Report Provides Insight into EV
Vehicle Claims, Market Data
Columnist John Yoswick: Attorneys Say Consumer Data Privacy Concerns for Collision Repair Shops are Real
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