Final Thoughts
By Michael E. Wilson, ARA Chief Executive Officer
michael@a-r-a.org
Pursuit of OEM Parts Data Continues
n 2008, the global financial crisis drove the automotive industry to fundamen- tally change how it did business. Slashing costs and enhancing efficiency through restructuring efforts, automakers con- fronted major solvency challenges head- on to adapt to new marketplace dynamics.
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As 2014 drew to a close, the industry was again in crisis as an epidemic of safety recalls rocked the world’s confi- dence in the quality of their motor vehi- cles. These changes have had a reverberating impact on the professional automotive recycling industry and oper- ation of ARA members’ businesses. All sectors of the automotive industry must once again be open to bold and revolu- tionary ideas. The time is now to work together to put the safety of the con- sumer first.
In the coming months, ARA will act aggressively to continue our pursuit of OEM parts data for inventory manage- ment systems and for enhanced con- sumer safety in the face of seemingly endless recalls by the automakers. Through the hard work of ARA members and staff, our Association has taken con- siderable steps forward in our efforts to promote professional automotive recy- clers and the vital role that recycled OEM parts play in the marketplace. The national conversation on automotive recalls is increasing daily and stakeholders and policymakers are beginning to include dialog on professional automo- tive recyclers’ need for OEM parts data. Automakers must be more proactive in working with professional automotive recyclers and other sectors within the parts supply chain to build a more effi- cient system of identifying recalled auto- motive parts and locating them at all points throughout the life cycle of the original equipment part. Without pro- viding more detailed information to automotive supply chain partners,
70 Automotive Recycling | January-February 2015
In the coming months, ARA will act aggressively to continue our pursuit of OEM parts data for inventory management systems and for enhanced consumer safety in the face of seemingly endless recalls by the automakers.
automakers have no definitive way of knowing where their parts ultimately end up. As a result, automakers cannot proficiently track the remedy rates of their recalls and are undermining their own commitment to safety.
The recognition of the need for the automakers to address these deficiencies is recognized outside of the United States. Articles 7-8 of
the European
Union’s End of Life Directive 2000/53/EC calls on Member States and automakers to “take the necessary measures to encourage the reuse of components which are suitable for reuse” and “take the necessary measures to ensure that manufacturers of components used in vehicles make available to authorized treatment facilities, as far as it is request- ed by these facilities, appropriate infor- mation concerning dismantling, storage and testing of components which can be reused.”
The professional automotive recycling industry worldwide calls on the Euro- pean Commission to hold Member States and automakers accountable to these Articles. The successful imple- mentation of these accountability meas- ures aimed at automakers in Europe will have important implications for automotive recyclers around the globe. Another recent requirement under European law is that vehicle manufac- turers must ensure that independent operators have easy, restriction-free and standardized access to vehicle repair and maintenance information (RMI) under Regulation 715/2007 (the “Euro 5” Regulation) and related implementing
and amending acts. The requirements related to Reg. 692/2008, Article 2.1(2) covering access to information on bulk data on parts, as identified by the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) are of par- ticular importance. ARA is on record requesting the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to require this very same information of automakers in batch format for the fed- eral government’s vehicle safety website,
www.safercar.gov which debuted VIN- specific search capabilities last year. ARA continues to educate all stake- holders in the automotive recall process about the unique and critical role pro- fessional automotive recyclers play in the OEM part life cycle and how access to part numbers can enhance consumer safety and supply chain decisions. This issue will be central to the nation’s auto- motive safety agenda for the foreseeable future and ARA will not stop in its efforts to compel the automobile manu- facturer community to truly live up to its new safety culture.
ARA will actively monitor implementa- tion of requirements on the automakers in Europe and work with our global col- leagues to secure automaker compliance with statutory requirements. If manufac- turers are serious that a focus on safety is the “new normal,” they will eliminate decades-old data restrictions by working together with professional automotive recyclers and providing them with access to the same part numbers already pro- vided to dealer networks, the insurance industry and the collision repair com- munity. ■
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