In a 10-minute demonstration at the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) last November, Toby Chess proved that one person can make change happen in the collision industry.

At that meeting, Chess, an industry trainer based in California, used a firefighters' extrication saw to show how easy it was to cut through what he guessed was mild steel used to make a non-OEM bumper reinforcement bar. The part was being sold as a replacement for the 2009 Toyota Corolla bumper bar, which is made of ultra-high-strength steel.

Chess called it “unconscionable" that such a part, which he said could affect the deployment of airbags in a collision, was being produced and sold, and being installed by shops, sometimes at the behest of insurers.

In just the months following that simple demonstration, some significant changes have resulted:

• At least four insurers have pulled back from asking shops to use certain non-OEM parts.

• The largest seller of non-OEM parts halted the sale of certain parts that hadn't gone through its in-house testing process.

• Not one but two new programs have been launched to test and certify some types of non-OEM parts that weren't covered under existing certification programs.

Vendors, insurers take action

Chess followed up his November demonstration by bringing still more non-OEM “structural” parts to the CIC in January. Although he noted that he's not opposed to the use of non-OEM parts and that some such parts on the market are of good quality, he showed others that clearly raised concerns: bumper reinforcement bars that were bent to shape rather than formed, resulting in a weak spot; a bumper bracket for the 2000-04 Nissan Xterra that was made of 2-mm-thick material rather than 3.38-mm material used for the OEM part; foam bumper inserts made of polystyrene ("coffee cup foam") rather than the much-denser polypropylene foam.

Keystone Automotive, a subsidiary of LKQ Corporation and the largest supplier of non-OEM parts in the United States, was among the first to publicly respond to the demonstrations, announcing it would sell only non-OEM bumper reinforcement bars that qualify under the company's quality assurance program or are approved through third-party testing.

Within weeks, insurers too began backing away from calling for shops to use certain types of non-certified non-OEM parts. GEICO was the first, issuing a companywide policy change in January, saying "until further notice" it would no longer specify the use of non-OEM bumper reinforcements, absorbers and brackets.

Esurance followed, telling its direct repair shops in 30 states, "As it has always been our policy to only include OEM bumper reinforcements and core supports on estimates written for our customers, we are now expanding our policy to also include bumper absorbers and bumper brackets."

  Then in early February, MetLife Auto & Home also suspended the use of non-OEM steel bumpers, bumper reinforcements, energy absorbers, brackets and radiator supports. “Company policy will be the use of OEM or recycled OEM parts," MetLife wrote to shops in its direct repair program.

Another insurer, Chubb & Son, cited "recent questions and concerns being raised surrounding the safety and integrity of some aftermarket parts" in announcing in late February it was suspending use of non-OEM bumper reinforcements, energy absorbers, bumper mounting brackets, and radiator supports.

  Groups representing the manufacturers and sellers of non-OEM parts, also issued statements urging their members to discontinue production and sale of structural parts that have not been adequately tested to be shown equal in performance to OEM.

New certification programs

Those actions prompted the announcement of two new programs to test and certify more types of non-OEM parts.

The Certified Automotive Parts Association (CAPA) has in the past not certified "safety-related parts," but that is about to change.

“For the past 2 months, CAPA has been conducting its own independent evaluations of aftermarket bumpers,” said Jack Gillis, executive director of CAPA. “The results of these tests point squarely to the need for a CAPA bumper standard. In testing what appear on the surface to be reasonably well-manufactured aftermarket bumpers, our laboratories discovered serious deficiencies in mechanical properties such as strength and metal hardness, material thickness, and fit. These deficiencies potentially place the driving public, who trust body shops to repair their vehicles with safe quality parts, at serious risk.”

Gillis said CAPA will first begin certifying rigid steel bumpers, followed by bumper reinforcement parts.

Meanwhile, another testing laboratory has announced it too will launch a certification program for some non-OEM parts. NSF International said it will initially focus on bumpers, energy absorbers, bumper brackets and reinforcement bars. The NSF certification process will include on-site inspections of the manufacturer's production and quality systems, part testing and comparison to OEM in dimensions and materials, a customer complaint process, and a traceability requirement that allows for “an effective recall process.”

Associations call for action

It is the recall process that a growing number of repairer trade groups are calling for in light of the thousands of potentially substandard non-OEM parts that have been installed on customers' vehicles.

In a letter to California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, the Collision Repair Association of California (CRA) called for his office to require insurers to notify consumers whose vehicles may have been repaired with inferior non-OEM bumper reinforcements.

"If insurers stand behind these aftermarket parts, they have an obligation to review the (past) use of these parts when evidence suggests these parts may not perform as original equipment from the manufacturer," CRA President Lee Amaradio said.

On a national level, the Automotive Service Association (ASA) urged the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to begin a non-OEM crash parts regulatory program.

In a written statement, the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers (AASP) called for a halt on the sale of any non-OEM structural parts that have not been certified as equivalent to OEM. Once such testing identifies substandard parts, the association's statement reads, "the various segments within our industry will again be 'tested' in terms of their commitment to remove known defective parts from consumers' vehicles."

No insurer or non-OEM parts manufacturer or distributor has announced any type of recall process as of yet. Keystone, meanwhile, announced in mid-February that it had hired a research firm to crash test a Toyota Corolla equipped with a non-OEM bumper reinforcement bar and found the vehicle met federal safety standards for occupant protection. Crash tests were performed on two Corollas, one with an OEM bumper bar and one with a non-OEM bumper bar that Keystone says had the same strength characteristics as the one that industry trainer Chess raised concerns about. Both vehicles met the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 208 (FMVSS 208).

Keystone said it would continue testing other reinforcement bars it had stopped selling earlier this year to compare their "strength characteristics" to the crash-tested non-OEM part.

Chess, for one, found fault with Keystone's tests. For one thing, he said, Keystone tested a non-OEM part for the 2003-08 Corolla, rather than the one he cut through at CIC which is being sold for the 2009 Corolla. Second, he said, all bumper reinforcements “will be toast” in a 35-mph collision; he would rather see the results of a 10-mph test.