Automotive Repair News Today

Braxton Critcher [00:00:05]:
Hey there. Thanks for checking out automotive repair news today on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform. I'm Braxton Kricher, and today is, well, just like all the other episodes, really important, because there's a lot of things happening in the automotive industry, and today is no different. We're talking about ados, and, well, technology is everywhere, not just in the automotive industry, but especially in the automotive industry. And I don't know if you've checked in the past ten years, but technology is, well, it's all over the place inside the car. It's pretty crazy what cars can do. But with growing technology, we're also learning about how to repair, how to update, how to install new and ados into vehicles and what is healthy and what's not. And that's why today's conversation is so important.

Braxton Critcher [00:00:59]:
Super excited to have Ryan Koyman and Chris Gardner. They're both from Mima aftermarket suppliers with me on today's video. What's up, boys?

Ryan Kooiman [00:01:08]:
How you doing, Braxton? Thanks for having us.

Braxton Critcher [00:01:11]:
Yeah, so we were just talking about it. Adasdev is, well, in everything, including air conditioning and automotive repair these days. So it's. It's a big deal. And, man, everything is. It just seems like about every other month, there's new technology, new upgrades, new updates, and all this stuff with automotive repair and ados is right in the thick of all of that. So today's conversation is important to, um, because with everything in automotive repair today, there's also some legislation behind stuff, especially when it comes to, uh, cars driving and not humans. That's a big deal.

Braxton Critcher [00:01:58]:
So, uh, let's start with you, Chris, I guess. Give me the. What is happening right now, uh, when it comes to, uh, ados and automotive repair, and we'll go from there.

Chris Gardner [00:02:11]:
Well, thanks, Braxton. This is great to participate today. So, just real quickly, Mima aftermarket suppliers represent suppliers of parts, chemicals, tools, equipment, technologies to the broader aftermarket. That's commercial vehicle Reman automotive. And we have a group called the Mobility Technology Council that focuses on some of these emerging technologies, like adas, electrification and connected and access to vehicle data and prognostics and all that stuff. And so you were right. Adas is growing. It's an important part of vehicle architecture today.

Chris Gardner [00:02:54]:
And because it's growing so much, our mobility technology council established a workgroup, I don't know, maybe six or seven months ago, to evaluate adas and to help our members and their customers prepare for this growing market. And what the work group did is it looked at how it's growing and it looked at how it is serviced, which in industry terms is how it's calibrated. And then the group uncovered some serious concerns about it. So we decided to address that and look into all these issues and concerns. And we're now developing, or actually, we've finished developing. We're getting ready to publish an industry white paper titled ados defined concerns and recommendations. So that's where we are right now. And that's the reason you're having us on here, is to talk about this today.

Braxton Critcher [00:03:51]:
What are some of those major concerns, if you had to pick a couple?

Chris Gardner [00:03:57]:
Well, I'll let Ryan, who is. Ryan's one of our executive committee members for the Mobility technology Council, helped spearhead this effort. He's with standard motor products and is a lot closer to the field than I am, so he can do a much better job.

Ryan Kooiman [00:04:16]:
Well, thanks, Chris. Yeah, so as director of training, I've got a group of trainers, also training developers that go out and teach automotive technicians best practices, diagnostics. And adas is one of the topics. It's been kind of a hot topic here for the last seven, eight years. And so I've got trainers on staff who used to go out and be mobile ADAS calibration technicians. So they come straight from the field and so firsthand knowledge, understanding this stuff. I spent 16 years in the shop myself, so I still like to get out and do that. Actually, at lunch today, I was able to help a shop wrap up a radar calibration on a Ford f 150 truck.

Ryan Kooiman [00:05:03]:
So I still like to understand the painst and it's a moving target. I'd like to say we have this problem, this problem, this problem, but every day there's something new pops up. Even one of the more recent things is an insurance company came out and said, we're only going to pay this much for a calibration. And that throws the industry an uproar there of, how do you do it properly for this amount of money? One of the big things is what does it take to do a proper calibration? When should it be done? How should it be done? And how do we know that it was done properly? Just because you hit calibrate and a green light came on and said calibration complete, was it truly done to the letter of the law or to the fullest extent or intent of the vehicle's manufacturer? And so that's really what this group has worked on, is identifying some of that stuff, coming up with some recommendations of not only the painst, but really some solutions here and some recommendations that help alleviate some of the confusion and make a standardized process so the whole industry can get behind.

Braxton Critcher [00:06:11]:
What's the ultimate goal? And you haven't talked about it a ton yet, both of you. But the white pages, what's the ultimate goal behind that when it gets released and for consumers so that they'll understand what the, the mission is.

Ryan Kooiman [00:06:28]:
Yeah. So really, education is what we're all about here and we want to educate, as you mentioned, the consumer, how many times hasn't somebody brought their car in for air conditioning repair and the front bumper of the radar had to get moved and put back? Does the consumer know that component needs to be recalibrated at that point? Shoot. Does that technician even know that that radar needs to be recalibrated at that point? And so it's about educating the motoring public, but also educating the technician, making them aware of it, educating the insurance industry. And there's insurance adjusters out there that aren't quite sure what should be done here or there, also helping to educate legislators. You know, we work closely, and that's one of the great things about MiMa, is a support group within all legislating bodies and the representation there. How do we help educate them and help them understand what it is and then really look, for said earlier, a standardized procedure here. And so if we're doing this, we're going to do this, etcetera.

Chris Gardner [00:07:38]:
And Braxton, I might add one or two things to what Ryan is describing here. I don't think there's a, the vast majority of people in this country and in this industry and consumers really don't have a clue how simple of an event that can happen to a vehicle can cause a sensor or a safety system to be out of whack and need require calibration. For example, if you've got tires that have different pressures, which causes the level of the vehicle to be a little off, that's a common thing, right. That could cause your adol system to not work properly. If you lift a vehicle, if you wrap a vehicle, if you paint the bumper, if your car hits a pothole or backs into a curb, any of these things may very well cause the sensors to be out of whack. And these are very common things that happen every day. But most consumers have no clue that they really need to get their systems recalibrated.

Braxton Critcher [00:08:37]:
Yeah. So I think that begs a pretty important question. With all the technology that is increasingly involved in automobiles, is the industry where they need to be? I think that probably the simple answer is no. But how close or how far off are automotive repair shops, our legislators, our consumers, and our knowledge about where Adas is right now?

Ryan Kooiman [00:09:06]:
Well, I'll say it's a wide chasm. Braxton, you've got some that are right there. They're on the cutting edge. They've got all the equipment. They're familiar with it. They stay up to date with it. And then you've got the ones that I'm not even sure can spell ADAs, unfortunately. And so it's just a lot of different ones.

Ryan Kooiman [00:09:27]:
And some will wash their hands of it and go, I don't want to mess with it. The reality is you are messing with it. You're involved with it. Windshield replacement, that's a huge part of this ADAs community and the reasons that calibrations are required and. Sorry, go ahead. Sorry, Chris.

Chris Gardner [00:09:49]:
Alignments are another big area.

Ryan Kooiman [00:09:51]:
Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. As you mentioned, tire repairs or tire shops. Right. That's going to affect it. And so educating people to understand this and help bridge that gap there. And just maybe not everybody's going to be an ADAS calibration specialist. And we certainly see the technology changing in the vehicles, where they go from what's referred to as a static calibration to a dynamic calibration.

Ryan Kooiman [00:10:19]:
Some vehicles require both. Some will do either or in just helping people know when to do it, how to do it, and how to do it properly.

Braxton Critcher [00:10:29]:
So, obviously, reports like this are steps to get there, but what else is it going to take? I also think maybe it's a little bit of just the industry as a whole, but consumers, everybody involved with a desire to want to know more because I think, like you said, a lot of people kind of want to wash their hands of it. That's too detailed. I don't want to deal with that. And, I mean, it's hard to work around that issue, but, uh, you know, what is it really going to take to make those steps to get to where the industry needs to be and where consumers and legislators need to be about ados, because it is changing so much. I mean, it's, it's, it's almost, it feels almost impossible to keep up with the change. Uh, but educate me on that because, you know, that's pretty, it's important.

Chris Gardner [00:11:22]:
Well, Braxton, you're right, and Ryan already mentioned a few things, that there's a few of the stakeholders and a few of the things that need to take place, but one is that there needs to be an industry come together and collaborate amongst all key organizations, associations, and different entities who need to have input into the ultimate solution, which is, you know, one way of describing these things, one way of dealing with different targets, and one way there needs to be a single resource.

Braxton Critcher [00:12:02]:
Yeah. Excuse me, a procedure. Yeah.

Chris Gardner [00:12:05]:
Yeah. Well, now, keep in mind, every automaker is going to have its own procedures that may or may not be standardized in the short term. It needs to be standardized in the long term. We all agree with that. But even before that, we need one source of how things are called, how things are described. And what do you do? What do you look for? When do you look for something that needs to be recapped? All these things. And so that's one of the things that our white paper is calling for, is an industry wide effort to develop a single source. So that's one area.

Chris Gardner [00:12:37]:
And I don't think the collaboration part will be difficult. We worked with SEMA, with this white paper, this workgroup and white paper, and it was seamless working with them. We all contributed. It was great. And so we are inviting other organizations to join and take this a step further. But Ryan also mentioned another really key area, and that's government or legislation or regulations. At some point, there's going to have to be, there will have to be a system of evaluating or testing or inspecting vehicles that are on the road, that are being driven to ensure they operate properly. Because currently, today, there's nothing that requires you to have a certain system calibrated or recalibrated.

Chris Gardner [00:13:22]:
You can decline. You can say, no, it's too expensive, like Ron's talking about. Insurers may not pay for all of it, so the consumer may have to pay for part of it. Right. Well, if they choose not to, they can decline. They can do that. Today. There's nobody looking over the shoulders and saying, no, that car's got to work right before it leaves the shop.

Chris Gardner [00:13:41]:
That needs to happen. And so we're just beginning those conversations and we hope that the white paper will spur more of these conversations about what needs to be done.

Braxton Critcher [00:13:51]:
Right. I think if consumers understand the safety concern for a vehicle that's not properly aligned or not properly updated with their ADAS system, I think maybe that might spur some more conversation to help get some things passed, because I'm with you. I mean, if it's an extra price on the consumer, that is not a necessity, then most people are going to decline that. And it's hard to explain that if you're a repair shop and that's on your invoice line by line and oh, yeah, you know, so, I mean, that's.

Chris Gardner [00:14:34]:
More education of the repair shop is really what's needed in that case. Yeah, because unfortunately, Ryan, correct me if I'm wrong, but unfortunately, almost every vehicle you can, even with the. With the safety systems not calibrated, you can crank the vehicle and you can drive down the road. It operates. It just may not operate the way it's supposed to.

Braxton Critcher [00:14:55]:
Yeah.

Ryan Kooiman [00:14:56]:
Like the case of the Ford I assisted in today, the cruise control would not work until the system was calibrated. But other than that, there's no warning lamps, etcetera. So, you know, let's say I'm repairing Chris's vehicle, and he declines the calibration. At some point, he sells the vehicle. And now, Braxton, you. You purchase the vehicle from Chris, you have no way of knowing if that vehicle has been calibrated or been calibrated properly. And so, you know, it's a. It's scary when you start to think about all the different rabbit holes this could go down into.

Braxton Critcher [00:15:32]:
Yeah. Yeah. So do you think. I mean, there's not a simple solution. I mean, this is. This is going to be conversations over the next couple of years, but is this something that needs to have some legislation? It also needs to have some. Some coverage with your car insurance? Like what. What do you think is.

Braxton Critcher [00:15:55]:
What's some ideas that you have that, you know, would help solve some of these issues?

Ryan Kooiman [00:16:00]:
Well, I've. I personally am a free market guy. I don't like any more rules and regulations telling me what I have to do. However, for the common good of all of us on the streets, I believe that there should be some legislation for this, forcing some sort of action. I'm all for state inspections. You know, me living in Michigan here, you should see some of the rust buckets that we share the road with here, and it's flat out dangerous. Not even talking about adas. But I think there's some part of that.

Ryan Kooiman [00:16:37]:
I think consumer awareness is just something that we can all participate in, whether it's a technician, a shop owner, organizations, podcasts, publications like this. Just getting the word out there to people. I've been very involved with ASE, which is a certification body in the industry here. And I was actually at the very first meeting held in Detroit, talking about ADAS certification. Been a subject matter expert all the way through that exam process and getting out there to the street. And Chris already alluded to this, but just even stuff like common terminology. What does this manufacturer call the radar? The other one calls it something different. And so getting some of that stuff there commonalized.

Ryan Kooiman [00:17:27]:
But by getting the word out there that there is certifications for that, as a consumer, I want to know that the technician working on my vehicle is certified in this area. And so I'm going to, it doesn't mean that they're perfect. Right. We're all still human beings here, but I take greater comfort in understanding the technician working on my vehicle has taken the effort to get certified and has passed a test that a regulating body does. Say, we're, we're certifying you as proficient to work in this vehicle.

Chris Gardner [00:18:07]:
What did we jump in here real quick? So a lot of what Ryan said, a lot of what we've talked about is embedded in the white paper. For example, we referenced the SAE work that some of the SAE committees have done on this, and we referenced the ASE certification test in the white paper and provide a link to it. So it's the beginning of creating the white paper is the beginning of creating a source and hopefully ultimately a single source of all ADAs type information. So a lot of what he referenced, we're going to be publishing here in the next couple of weeks.

Braxton Critcher [00:18:47]:
Yeah. I was about to ask, when can we see this? Where do we go? And you mentioned other organizations, people that would like to, to get involved with this. You know, what can they do?

Chris Gardner [00:18:58]:
Yeah, so that's a, that's a great question, this. We're planning to publish the white paper in September. I'm not sure when this will air, but in September. And then we're going to be promoting it and pushing it and getting the word out at various industry events, like the upcoming aftermarket technology conference, Apex, Asima, show other industry events. We're going to be doing a social media campaign and a pr campaign posted on websites and as many places as possible. Getting that word out and then individually contacting different organizations and associations we already know and have relationships with will, I think, will create momentum that will result in sort of a United nations of all the key stakeholders and organizations to come together and then to talk about, you know, what, what the white paper exposed or identified and then what are the next steps.

Braxton Critcher [00:20:01]:
Right. You know, what was it in the movie? Or I guess the comics Spider Man, Peter Parker's uncle said, with great responsibility or with great power comes great responsibility. I think that kind of holds true here. I mean, there's some great power in these ADOS technologies, and it's pretty cool. Like, I mean, some of the things that cars are able to do today is mind blowing to think about. Even just ten years ago. And, but when you have that kind of power at your fingertips, there's some responsibility on all ends for repair shops, for a consumer who's an automobile owner, and for people that are in legislation. I mean, there's, there's some responsibility to be taken here on everybody's part when your car is able to do what it is today in this world.

Braxton Critcher [00:20:50]:
So this is pretty important. So I appreciate you guys for, for what you're doing. What, what else, what, what else is important to, to mention here and to let people know about?

Ryan Kooiman [00:21:01]:
Well, I think one thing to add on to what Chris was just saying there about this white paper, this is just the beginning, and I think we've discussed this from the beginning of the work group meeting is that this is, we don't just publish it and walk away and say, hey, we did our job. This is a living, breathing document that's going to continue to get revised, updated because things are changing so frequently. And as hopefully some of these standardization or commonalities begin to incorporate, we need to add that to this. And we've got great representation on this team, not only Chris, but members from other manufacturing companies, some of the OE manufacturing companies, or suppliers, if you will. SEMA, we've got adas, really industry legends as part of this, mobile calibration technicians, etcetera. And so all contributing and working together in this work group here. So honored to be a part of this. But, you know, we're going to continue to apply the pressure to the right places to see some changes made and then continue to update and report this back.

Braxton Critcher [00:22:18]:
Man, I'm excited to see what happens because this is, this is good stuff. It really is. I mean, the industry needs more people like you guys.

Chris Gardner [00:22:26]:
Well, I just want to thank, publicly thank Ryan and the leadership he's provided and all the folks on the, on the work group. And they are, they're going to be, they'll receive attribution and credit in the, in the white paper itself. But also, Braxton, thank you for this opportunity. And I look forward to doing this again in x number of months after we have taken it to our next step and maybe collected some other organizations together to work on it, and then we can talk about what we've accomplished to that point.

Braxton Critcher [00:22:57]:
Look at Chris inviting himself back.

Ryan Kooiman [00:23:02]:
It was either he did it or I was going to do it. You know, I was thinking that it's perfect sequence. So we'll, we'll be back on the show in six months when we report what we've heard from this so far.

Braxton Critcher [00:23:11]:
I love it. I love it. You guys are always welcome. Well, thank you again.

Chris Gardner [00:23:16]:
Thank you, Braxton.

Braxton Critcher [00:23:18]:
And as we've been talking about on this podcast, if you've listened on your favorite podcast platform, maybe you caught a clip of this on social media or you're watching the entire podcast on YouTube. Appreciate you doing that. This is a conversation and this is ongoing. We're learning things as we go, as this white paper is being constructed. And maybe by the time you watch this, it's, it's released. This is a conversation and we want to hear from you. And so in the comments below on social media, on YouTube, let me know what your perspective is about Ados. If you're a technician, if you're an owner, if you're a consumer that is just geeking out over all the technology in cars and you just love it, but you want to see some improvements about how things are handled in the industry, then let me know your perspective in the comments below.

Braxton Critcher [00:24:07]:
I want to learn more, too, and I'm going to learn with you. But overall, appreciate you listening, watching this episode of Automotive Repair news today. Hey, if you're still here, thank you so much for listening to this episode of Automotive Repair news today. If you enjoyed the show, please take a moment. Like share, subscribe to the podcast. That'll help us out a big deal and help grow the show. And you know what? While you're at it, slap on a review, too. If you feel like this content is helpful for the industry.

Braxton Critcher [00:24:39]:
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