LAS VEGAS, Nev., Oct. 31, 2017—CIC resumed its SEMA Show 2017 meeting with discussions on new vehicle technology, public policy and more.
Education and training committee co-chairs Jeff Peevy and Gene Lopez discussed the results of various education and training surveys from trade publications, including FenderBender’s survey.
Next was a panel discussion on new vehicle technology and public policy featuring Matthew McDonell, owner of Big Sky Collision Center, Greg Potter from the Equipment and Tool Institute, Clement Pantin from Mobile Devices, and Wayne Weikel of Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.
Autonomous vehicles were top of mind as the panel addressed the recent legislation, the SELF DRIVE Act, that was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in September 2017.
And amongst autonomous technology, cyber security was of interest. Weikel spoke of AUTO ISAC, the automotive information sharing and analysis center, as a resource for those in the industry since he says anti-trust laws prevent those from getting together and deciding on such things in the industry.
“It’s critical,” Weikel explains as the reputational impact of having one of your shop’s vehicles hacked and the safety risk is detrimental.
Toby Chess, co-chair of the human resource committee of CIC gave insight on the importance of using OEM data for vehicle repairs, focusing specifically on welding.
He gave many examples of vehicles that may be from the same manufacturer and have the same model year, but the repair specifications of each one is different.
“You can’t take the same data from one vehicle and apply it to another one,” Chess says.
And there is an industry misconception that systems like ALLDATA come up with repair procedures, when really it comes directly from OEMs. Chess says that about 70 percent of people believe this.
But when it comes to welding, Chess says that a lot of people don’t understand the capabilities of their welding machines. Some techs don’t even know that you can dial in the thickness of the steel of the specific vehicle being worked on in the welder itself.
He also touched on the fact that failing to choose the correct MIG wire size according to the vehicle's steel thickness can be dangerous.
“The data is there, we need to make sure our people read it and understand it,” he says.
The emerging technologies committee followed with an update, reiterating the importance of verifying all calibrations on vehicles, both static and dynamic.
The open systems, data access and sharing task force hosts the last panel touching on EMS/BMS systems, where Mitchell announced, “Program Freedom,” allowing shops to complete claims without any data exchanging or toll fees.
The panel also talked more about cybersecurity, reiterating that if you write an estimate, you own the data of that estimate. Only you can be in charge of where your data is going.
The day ended with a Q and A session for audience members to ask any lingering questions. The next CIC is scheduled for January 2018 in Palm Springs, Calif..
If you missed this morning's CIC discussions, read the story here.
