Las Vegas, Nov. 2, 2011—Several prominent collision repair organizations have signed a joint statement recognizing OEM manufacturer published repair procedures as the industry’s standards.
The statement was distributed Nov. 2 at the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) meeting at SEMA. It is the first official declaration of what many in the industry already consider to be the industry’s standards.
The signing organizations include the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS), the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers (AASP), the Automotive Service Association (ASA), and Assured Performance Network (APN). Their statement said:
“The undersigned organizations continue to be the leading voice of collision repair businesses and technicians across the United States, just as they have for decades. Representing their interests, we hereby recognize published repair procedures, as provided by automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEM), as the official industry recognized “Repair Standards” for collision repair. These standards, where they exist, shall be the basis for the establishment of training, testing, repair practices, and documentations.
“Whereas, we acknowledge that OEM repair procedures are incomplete in comparison to the full scope of vehicles and repair operations which exist in the marketplace; the OEM published repair procedures shall serve as the baseline for industry repair standards, with the recognition that further development of procedures will be necessary in areas not covered by published procedures.
“Therefore, we officially ask the board of directors for the Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair (I-CAR), to establish within their overall organizational structure, an industry council to identify gaps in existing OEM procedures and develop processes to close gaps, vet industry proposed alternatives, modifications, and additions to OEM procedures. The Council will include volunteer representatives serving at least ASA, SCRS, AASP, and I-CAR.”
The SCRS said the declaration provides a foundation and focus for the industry’s effort to establish standards.
