Leaders of the Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA) are urging General Motors (GM) to live up to its "New Industry Standard for Safety" by providing professional automotive recyclers with access to crucial OE parts data.
General Motors CEO Mary Barra is set to testify on Capitol Hill for a second time regarding the company’s massive ignition switch recall, while ARA members from across the nation are in Washington for the association’s annual Hill Day to advocate on behalf of the professional automotive recycling industry and their need for parts data.
The association says that the complexity of today’s automotive supply chain underscores the importance of access to VIN-specific OEM parts numbers, build sheet data and other identifying information. Automakers rely on an expansive number of suppliers from all over the world, and minor variations in a vehicle part model, modifications to manufacturing materials, external factors impacting a third-party supplier that slow or stop production, and a myriad of other risks can all have tremendous impact on – and potentially disrupt – parts supply sources, according to the ARA.
"The significance of OEM part numbers is demonstrated by the ongoing GM ignition switch recall investigation and revelation that GM engineered a new ignition switch nearly a decade ago,” said ARA CEO Michael E. Wilson. “However, the redesigned part was not given a new part number – an act contrary to standard operating procedures. As a result, redesigned parts were introduced into the market and installed on GM vehicles. And without a new part number, those corrected ignition switches are indistinguishable from the flawed switches that resulted in 13 deaths."
Added ARA President Ed MacDonald, "Information about a part and where it is produced is critical to all stakeholders in the automotive parts supply chain. That is why ARA members are up on the Capitol Hill meeting with their federal representatives and asking for their support in requiring auto manufacturers to enhance access to recall information and integrate parts data into the automotive parts supply chain."
ARA went on record earlier this year at the 14th International Automotive Recycling Congress in Brussels, Belgium, when Wilson called on the automotive manufacturers in attendance "to become better economic, environmental and safety partners by releasing OEM build sheet data to the professional automotive industry’s inventory management entities, just as they do for insurance companies and the collision repair industry."
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