Nov. 26, 2013—The National Automotive Service Task Force (NASTF) recently held its Fall 2013 General meeting, which featured 10 presentations on some of the automotive aftermarket’s largest issues.
More than 65 people attended the meeting, held Nov. 6 during the AAPEX and SEMA trade shows in Las Vegas. Another 37 attended via the live webcast, and 300 more people viewed the recorded webcast in the week following the live event.
The volunteer speakers presented topics recently raised by the NASTF Board of Directors and Committees covering issues concerning scan tools, collision repair and consumers.
The presenters were as follows:
- Bob Stewart, manager of aftermarket service support for General Motors, addressed counterfeit scan tools in his presentation, “Who’s Cheating Whom.”
- Greg Brannon, director of automotive engineering and industry relations for the American Automobile Association (AAA), introduced the consumer’s perspective in development of the connected car. He discussed the safety, convenience and peace of mind, and infotainment of the technology.
- Jason Bartanen, director of industry technical relations for I-CAR, kicked off a two-part presentation covering collision repair industry topics. Bartanen noted that the I-CAR Repairability Technical Support initiative has set out to establish direct links to OEM collision repair procedures on the OEM websites and that they intend to work with NASTF to avoid duplication of effort.
- Leo Gruzas, manager of GM service engineering, was called upon by the NASTF Collision Committee leadership to describe key elements of the GM technical support website for collision technicians, a website they acclaimed as an example of a user-friendly resource. www.GenuineGMParts.com
- Donny Seyfer, owner of Seyfer Automotive and co-chair of the Equipment and Tool Committee (ETC), announced development of the “OEM Scan Tool Resource Center,” a cooperative project of the NASTF Service Information Committee and the Mechanical Operations Committee of the Automotive Service Association (ASA).
- Claude Hensley, owner of Lockman Locksmiths and co-chair of the Vehicle Security Committee (VSC), reported on the Oct. 23 conference call meeting of the VSC.
- Steve Douglas, director of environmental affairs for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, and Dave Zwalina, owner of Automotive One, summarized the current environment regarding OEM service information.
- Greg Potter, director of automotive and heavy-duty markets for DG Technologies (MI) and co-chair of the Equipment and Tool Committee (ETC), reported on an initiative to eliminate the current NASTF tool-maker’s (data availability) matrix.
- John Cabaniss, director of environment and energy for Global Automakers (DC) and co-chair of the NASTF Communications Committee, reported on the committee’s responsibilities to both promote NASTF to the industry and to oversee communications about NASTF activities. Their work is divided into five areas: the NASTF Newsletter, website, social media, press release_notess and outreach through presentations and trade shows.
The NASTF spring general meeting is set for March 20, prior to the opening of the Automotive Training Expo (ATE) in Seattle, Wash.
