ETI Members and Colleagues,

The latest news on the Massachusetts Right to Repair.

In the most recent release United States District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock states the following:

"The resurgence of a demanding criminal trial schedule, together with the parallel resumption of long delayed in-court non-trial proceedings when coupled with continuing insistent writing responsibilities in other matters, requires me regretfully to advise the parties that the date by which I can fairly commit to the filing of Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law to resolve this matter on the merits in this court must again be extended. Without restating the previous procedural orders that caused me, while attempting to reconstitute an orderly docket, to delay issuance of the fully developed opinion by me that the complexities of this case require, I must for those fundamental reasons again do so. Accordingly, the Defendant is invited to make a Further Modified Stipulation to adjust the relevant date necessary for an appropriate period of consideration in support of a fully satisfactory opinion until no later than July 1, 2022, to bring this case to an appealable final judgment." 

We will continue to monitor the situation in Massachusetts and keep you updated on further developments.

Thank you. 

ETI Members and Colleagues, 

 

We were informed today that United States District Judge, Douglas Woodstock, due to “unforeseen and unforeseeable circumstances, principally involving supervening but insistent writing responsibilities in other matters”, would delay the decision on Massachusetts Right to Repair. It was previously expected that Judge Woodstock would render his final judgement on March 7, 2022, but with these new developments the Judge now says that he will issue a final judgment no later than April 15, 2022. 

              We will continue to monitor the situation in Massachusetts and we will keep you updated as developments occur.  

 

Thanks 

Brian 

The Equipment and Tool Institute today announced that Julianne (Juli) Sweet has joined the organization as the Marketing and Events Manager.  Juli will be responsible for directing the Institute’s marketing programs, activities and events.   Juli brings with her 15 years of experience coordinating, managing and delivering successful meetings and events. Juli has a proven track record of creating innovative and memorable experiences for attendees of all types. In addition to events, she will also be responsible for ETI’s marketing efforts, overseeing ETI’s brand management across all platforms. She will handle marketing plans, strategies and implementation including ETI Social Media accounts e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Juli worked at NGK Spark Plugs (U.S.A.), Inc. as their Corporate Events Planner responsible for highly-detailed development of events and promotions aimed at engaging sales staff and clients.  She has extensive knowledge in negotiating contracts, site and vendor selection, budget management as well as full execution of plans for all major corporate events, including North American sales and marketing meetings, international customer trips and other industry events for the Aftermarket and OEM departments. “Juli will bring us some hi-powered experience in creating and marketing memorable events. She is hitting the road in full stride in quickly grasping the wheel for our next Tool Tech event rapidly approaching April 30 through May 3 in Tucson, AZ. Please join me in welcoming Juli to the ETI Team!” stated Greg Potter, ETI’s Executive Manager. Juli attended Central Michigan University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Education and Psychology.    Founded in 1947, the Equipment and Tool Institute is a trade association of automotive tool and equipment manufacturers and technical information providers. ETI’s mission is to: Advance the vehicle service industry by providing technical data and open dialog between the manufacturers of transportation products, government regulators and the providers of tools, equipment and service information. For more details about ETI programs and activities, contact Juli Sweet, Marketing and Events Manager, Equipment and Tool Institute, 37899 W. 12 Mile Road, Suite 220, Farmington Hills, MI.  48331.  Cell: 248-412-3460 / Office: 248-656-5085; Email: jsweet@etools.org.

Equipment and Tool Institute 37899 W. 12 Mile Road, Suite 220 Farmington Hills, MI  48331 248-656-5080 www.etools.org

The Auto Care Association and the Equipment and Tool Institute (ETI) have announced support for the vehicle data access and control amendment that was included in the U.S. Senate Bill 1885 (S1885), the “American Vision for Safer Transportation through Advancement of Revolutionary Technologies” (AV START) Act. Read more.

When Jim Dykstra became part owner of his family’s auto repair service business in 1994, mechanics diagnosed car problems by looking under the hood. Soon after, car manufacturers started to add computer controls to vehicles’ steering wheels, airbags, brakes, windows, mirrors, and just about everything else. Dykstra’s current Audi has around 75 computer modules in it, and employees at his three repair shops near Grand Rapids, Michigan, are more appropriately called “technicians” than mechanics.  Read More.

Automechanika hit the ground running this year, with the Business Outlook Conference kicking off the first day at McCormick Place West. Collision Repair magazine is the official Canadian Media Partner for NACE Automechanika.  A panel discussion on telematics and in-vehicle connectivity was moderated by Greg Potter of the Equipment and Tool Institute, with panellists Bob Stewart of General Motors, Bill Leisenring of Delphi/Control Tec, Mike Fitzgerald of Innova and Tim Morgan of Spanesi.  Read More.

ETI congratulates the new Officers and Board Members on their election or appointment to office for 2017-2018.

Officers (one year term)
President:  Brian Herron (Drew Technologies)
Vice President, Programs:  Jim Fish (Lemur Monitors)
Vice President, Marketing:  Kevin FitzPatrick (Farsight)
Secretary/Treasurer:  Robert Vogt (IOSiX)

Elected for a one year term on the Board of Directors:

Tim Morgan (Spanesi Americas)

Elected for a two year term on the Board of Directors:

Chuck Abbott (CPS Products)

Elected to a three year term on the Board of Directors:

Tom Bertosa (Bosch Automotive Service Solutions)
Andreas Huber (MAHLE Service Solutions)

Appointed to fill vacant seats for a one year term on the Board of Directors:

Ed Prange (Bosch Automotive Service Solutions)
Harlan Siegel (Launch Tech USA)

Remaining Board Members (not up for election)

Expiring in 2017-18
Neil Davis (Snap-on Diagnostics)
David Rich (Innova)

Expiring in 2018-2019

Peter Richardson (Car-O-Liner)

Founded in 1947, the Equipment and Tool Institute is a trade association of automotive tool and equipment manufacturers and technical information providers. ETI’s mission is to: Advance the vehicle service industry by providing technical data and open dialog between the manufacturers of transportation products, government regulators and the providers of tools, equipment and service information.

For more details about ETI programs and activities, contact Jessie Korosec, Marketing and Events Manager, Equipment and Tool Institute, 37899 12 Mile Rd, Suite 220, Farmington Hills, Michigan  48331. Phone: 248-656-5085; e-mail: jessiek@etools.org.

The Equipment and Tool Institute (ETI) fully agrees with the process of the pre- and post- systems scan position many in the industry are taking.

The electronic safety systems on today’s vehicles are very important for occupant safety and must be checked after a repair for proper functionality. The pre-scan is now necessary for the repair facility to be able to help scope and estimate the repair processes required for a safe and complete repair.

This is an important concern for collision repair providers as the vast majority are not OEM dealership facilities. The need for affordable access to the tools that are essential to perform safe, complete and accurate repairs is extremely important. It is unlikely most shops will be able to justify the purchase cost of multiple OEM scan tools for this procedure since independent body shops work on a great variety of OEM’s vehicles. Thus, the importance of having accurate, timely and affordable OEM scan tool data provided to the aftermarket to ensure our members have the information necessary to fully emulate the factory tool functions.

While we understand that many of the manufactures do not know the capabilities of all the aftermarket scan tools, we know that many of the higher quality aftermarket tools provide the needed and necessary functions to complete a pre- and post scan properly for a majority of the vehicles they currently service.

Data for the development of aftermarket scan tools is provided directly to scan tool manufacturers as agreed by previous contracts in the US so as to be able to fully emulate the factory tool. Many OEM’s provide this information in an affordable, accurate and timely manner. Yet some OEM’s are less forthcoming and either restrict access to important data or price it at unaffordable levels. These access issue continue to plague the industry.

ETI has no concern with repairers utilizing OEM tools when they are available and endorses their use in situations where they may be needed e.g. vehicles in their early years of service, where coverage may not be implemented in the current aftermarket tool release.

For more information, contact ETI Executive Manager, Greg Potter, at gpotter@etools.org or 248-656-5080.

ETI is participating as a charter member of a new SAE initiative on automotive cybersecurity.  SAE J3138 Data Link Connector Vehicle Security Committee and the associated Task Force has been created to address security concerns with the OBD (J1962) connector.This effort is in response to recent inquires from Congress and NHTSA to prevent unauthorized vehicle hacking.

The newly formed task force is looking to create a set of standards to help secure the Diagnostic Link Connector (DLC) while maintaining legitimate access for OBD emissions testing, aftermarket repair tools and technicians.

ETI encourages technical participation in this effort from all of its members that access in-vehicle network data. The relevant SAE committee identifiers are TEVDS20 and TEVDS21 for the committee and task force respectively. For more information contact Greg Potter (gpotter@etools.org) or Rick Matz (Rmatz@etools.org) at ETI.

The Equipment and Tool Institute (ETI) has established a new strategic planning process to guide the organization in its direction, initiatives, and activities. The ETI Board of Directors and Staff teamed up with the Baker Strategy Group in an intensive one day strategic planning session to develop a roadmap for the Institute.  The plan is inclusive of the full spectrum of ETI priorities and all the association's future undertakings will be guided from the output of this work. Our efforts will focus on areas that will benefit our membership, support our mission, strengthen our ties with our industry partners and ensure the future of ETI.

Bob Holland, ETI’s President stated, “having the Baker Strategy Group in during our Strategic Planning session in Ann Arbor was very beneficial.  Like the organization itself, the ETI board is made up of people from many different segments of the automotive aftermarket and we each had specific goals and ideas we wanted to explore.   The Baker team was able to help facilitate our session allowing our team to come up with several new initiatives, which should add value for all of our member companies.   We had a lot of momentum already, we just needed someone to help us plot the course to get there faster”.

“Strategy planning is a continuous process and this is just a beginning for us, but a very valuable focus for the team to follow to keep the high relevance the association has provided in the past continuing into the future. We are fortunate to be in a very solid current state and able to spend this time mapping our current and future vision.” added Greg Potter, ETI’s Executive Manager.

The initial output of this exercise is a strategy map which identifies ETI’s mission, beliefs, metrics, stakeholders, products/services and generated key initiatives and tasks. This initial strategy map is intended to be a starting point with a slightly shorter vision that is intended to be evolutionary as the Institutes progresses. Every January ETI plans to review the strategy map, make any appropriate adjustments and look farther into the future of this rapidly changing industry.

Founded in 1947, the Equipment and Tool Institute is a trade association of automotive tool and equipment manufacturers and technical information providers. ETI’s mission is to advance the vehicle service industry by providing technical data and open dialog between the manufacturers of transportation products, government regulators and the providers of tools, equipment and service information.

For more details about ETI programs and activities, contact Jessie Korosec, Marketing and Events Manager, Equipment and Tool Institute, 37899 12 Mile Rd, Suite 220, Farmington Hills, Michigan  48331. Phone: 248-656-5085; e-mail: jessiek@etools.org.