March 19, 2012—The Certified Automotive Parts Association (CAPA) on Monday announced it will open another Vehicle Test Fit (VTF) center in Orange County, Calif.
CAPA said the new VTF center will be in addition to its existing VTF center in Grand Rapids, Mich. The organization is currently reviewing several specific locations for the new VTF center, and will announce its decision in the near future.
“This will provide manufacturers who participate in the CAPA program the option of having their CAPA VTFs and other vehicle-related services performed at multiple locations in the U.S. Like the Grand Rapids lab, the California facility will contain state-of-the-art measurement equipment, as well as ASE-certified technicians test fitting the parts submitted for certification,” said Debbie Klouser, director of operations for CAPA.
“CAPA’s VTF program was developed and implemented by CAPA in 1999. While today, CAPA’s unique vehicle test fit process has become the industry-accepted test for the quality of aftermarket parts, it was completely revolutionary when we originally introduced it,” said Jack Gillis, executive director of CAPA. “It’s likely that of all CAPA’s extensive certification requirements, the VTF has played the single most critical role in the universal acceptance of CAPA-certified parts as truly comparable to car company brand parts.”
The CAPA certification program includes a variety of independently developed and publicly available standards that cover a broad array of part types. CAPA standards enable both insurers and collision repair shops to select part types that match the quality of car company brand service parts, according to the organization. There are nearly 13,000 CAPA-certified part applications today, and CAPA’s new VTF lab will provide the opportunity for manufacturers to submit even more parts, CAPA said.
For more information, visit capacertified.org.
