Try to do something right and the entire industry will turn on you. This past couple of weeks have proven very interesting as every organization or group that claims to represent repairers have jumped on the bandwagon to crucify aftermarket parts. Some stuck to the subject of certain structural safety parts while others took the opportunity to slam all aftermarket parts.

Confused? Lets start at the beginning. During the CIC meeting in Lost Wages this past November, Toby Chess, SCRS board member and ICAR instructor demonstrated the difference between the strength of an OEM bumper reinforcement versus that of a the same aftermarket replacement part. The difference was significant. Using a metal cutting reciprocating saw Tony was able to cut the aftermarket part with relative ease while the OEM ( Toyota ) reinforcement was barely scratched. Everybody is concerned with the integrity of structural parts on any vehicle so immediately a red flag was raised. Toby tested more parts at the next CIC meeting with evidence that there was a major problem.

Even though ABPA (Automotive Body Parts Association) sent a notice asking their members to no longer manufacture or sell structural parts that had not been tested to show they were equal to OEM, the remainder of the industry could not miss the opportunity to put their two cents in. Press releases from ASA, AASP and SCRS hit the streets faster than a speeding bullet. There is nothing wrong with this since it is every association's job to keep their members informed and unsafe structural parts certainly are of concern to repairers and their customers. Not one of these organizations, however, said anything about the importance of having a need for alternative parts in order to keep prices down. Not one organization talked about working with ABPA to identify an organization that could test and prove whether structural parts would/could actually meet OEM standards.

So far I don't know of anyone who has been injured or killed because these parts were installed on their vehicle, but certainly structural safety parts must not be used because the potential of the bad part creating injury or death is real. It is how the industry goes about dealing with anything from the aftermarket that irks me. Is it because insurers want to use aftermarket parts to reduce cost of claims? Is it because many repairers claim that extra work is needed to make the parts fit? Is it because aftermarket parts in general, since their entrance into the marketplace, have reduced the cost of OEM parts thus reducing the profit of the collision shop?

You know, at NACE during the CIC meeting, the demonstration that Toby Chess gave was a little clumsy at best. He was having trouble handling the "mike" and doing the demo so much of what he said was not heard by the audience, which candidly didn't seem to be paying too much attention anyway. It was not Toby's fault that he was working in a big room where it was hard to see or hear what he was doing. In fact no one seemed to react during or after the presentation. No one stood up and said "using these parts must stop" it was only later that things began to heat up.

After word hit the street about the problem it wasn't long before the vultures began circling. These folks not only wanted the structural safety parts removed from the market, they wanted all aftermarket parts out of the market. One person suggested that the parts should be recalled in a similar manner as what happened to Toyota and their gas pedal problem.

Speaking of Toyota did you hear anybody say all Toyotas were bad? No, people just wanted to solve the problem. In fact many people who had their gas pedals stick were interviewed on an Orlando TV station and they said they would certainly buy a Toyota again even though they had been through a scary situation when their pedal stuck. And we are talking about a part that had actually been the reason people were killed. During all of this I didn't read one indignant comment from a single repairer about the lousy OEM parts that created Toyota 's problem. And----remember the company who made these parts for Toyota also makes the same part for other American cars. Where is the anger now?

Also, let us not forget that a huge number of repairers used aftermarket parts early on when they were really rusty junk and billed the insurers for OEM so they could greatly increase their profit on a part. And don't say it didn't happen because some of the best shops I know admitted to doing it.