LAS VEGAS — Representatives from shops, automakers, parts suppliers and more received an update on Secure Data Release Model (SDRM) this weekend from the National Automotive Service Task Force (NASTF).
A panel discussion, “Maximizing the Value of the SDRM,” during Sunday’s NASTF general meeting looked at where the SDRM has come and where it might be going.
Panelist Bob Stewart, with ACDelco, says when SDRM first was brought to the automaker’s attention, it was against giving the information to the aftermarket. But now, he says the company says the SDRM is a great tool and has turned into a very productive asset.
Other OEMs are implementing the SDRM, as Mark Saxonberg, co-chair of the Vehicle Security Committee, added information earlier during the NASTF general meeting that Mercedes-Benz is launching a pilot program in November to use SDRM to open more access to its theft related parts. He says Mercedes is building its system out for aftermarket service providers, and will expand it in the first quarter of 2011.
Along the lines of OEM information, Donny Seyfer, a shop owner who also is part of NASTF, asked the panel about Mode 27 codes triggered on today’s scan tools. Charlie Gorman, NASTF chairman, says it is possible to have information implemented into the scan tool, but it might not do much good, as there is no way to retrieve information on the other end.
Those potential future moves and other current efforts are good news to the locksmith industry. Panelist Claude Hensley, who represented the locksmith industry on the panel says that SDRM has been extremely valuable to his industry, specifically the immobilizer codes.
PAGE 2“Some of the automakers have put together a library on the website giving us information how to reset alarm systems, making the information about security systems. This is very valuable part of the SDRM,” Hensley says. “Future systems, that’s really something that a lot of locksmiths have debated. Now that the locksmiths have the ability to cooperate with the automakers, future systems will be something that we’ll be able to get access to information for.”
The panel discussion also focused on trends in how law enforcement tracks information through key codes and vehicle thefts.
In other business during the general meeting, committee members are making progress in other directions. Seyfer, who co-chairs NASTF’s Equipment and Tool Committee, reports that a scan tool matrix is moving along. NASTF is looking into the matrix to show features and capabilities of all scan tools on the market.
“When a shop is trying to choose a tool, they’ve got a comparative thing that says I’ve got this aftermarket tool, I’ve got this OE tool…what does each do?” he explains. “We’re not trying to make any tool better we’re just trying to make a comparative list for shops.”
An open discussion on opening physical scan tool access across the board from OEs through the Internet rounded out the general meeting. While ideas were discussed, no movement was decided upon.
Closing the meeting was an open discussion on expanding the use of J2534 interfaces and using them as links to Internet based OEM scan tools, similar to some already in existence. Efforts to standardize data protocols is already being considered in Europe, and while for different reasons, could this be the beginning of diagnostic standardization?
