Stacey Phillips is a freelance writer for the automotive industry based in Southern California. She has 20 years of experience as an editor including writing in a number of businesses and fields.
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Telematics, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and OEM repair procedures are all predicted to significantly impact the way vehicles are repaired in the future, according to Jake Rodenroth, director of OEM and industry technical relations for asTech.
During a virtual presentation co-sponsored by the Nebraska Auto Body Association (NABA) and the Kansas Auto Body Association (KABA), Rodenroth shared insight about several vehicle technologies and how they relate to collision repair diagnostics. He also discussed some of the future concerns technicians will likely face.
Diagnostics
In the evolving landscape of vehicle diagnostics, Rodenroth said body shops must recognize the difference between collision diagnostics and mechanical diagnostics.
“Collision repair technicians and mechanical technicians will look at the same vehicle from a very different perspective,” said Rodenroth. Speaking from firsthand experience working as a master technician for a large OEM in his earlier career, he shared the difference between the two.
On the mechanical side, most of the repairs revolve around a concern or the vehicle’s maintenance schedule.
“The technician’s job is to identify the cause of that concern and then recommend the correction or repair on the vehicle,” said Rodrenroth.
Since many mechanical repairs are routine, he said the correction is usually predictable. Therefore, a variety of tools can be used to access the systems responsible for the cause. Ultimately, mechanical diagnostics comes down to first identifying the concern, and then the cause and correction.
In comparison, collision diagnostics involves...