The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance (TDCI) is examining
the need for regulations that would require aftermarket crash parts to
meet crashworthiness standards met by their OEM equivalents.
Several aftermarket parts manufacturers use carbon steel in place of
the high strength and ultra high strength steels used by OEMs, sparking
safety and performance concerns. The Diamond Standard Brand Alternative
Safety Part Division of Reflexxion Automotive and Production Bumper
Stampings made a presentation on the use of safety parts that don’t
meet federal standards of crashworthiness or standard of performance of
the OEM part on Feb. 6 for the TDCI.
The state is considering adding safety parts to its definition of crash
parts. Now, Tennessee regulations covering crash parts include a
definition of crash parts, manufacturer identification of the part and
disclosure. The TDCI considers the current regulations to be outdated
and believes they should be modeled after those of the National
Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) model law’s quality and
performance requirements.
“We welcome this opportunity to assist and serve the industry and state
of Tennessee to create updated regulations to include safety parts and
quality performance requirements of these parts to assure the part
being installed will indeed restore the vehicle’s collision management
system to its predamaged condition and to the standard which came on
the vehicle initially – the OEM part being that standard,” said Geoff
Crane, business development manager for the Diamond Standard Brand
Division. “If it’s a common goal within the collision repair industry
that all vehicle occupants are safe, why would anyone install or be
allowed to install safety parts that fail to provide the federal and
OEM standards of crashworthiness in a collision management system?”
Crane said that aftermarket parts that don’t meet OEM standards for
performance and crashworthiness are “a violation of use in any state
with regulations calling for OEM equivalency or like kind quality and
performance” for replacement parts.
In January, the NAIC asked Diamond Standard to review its model law governing aftermarket parts (click HERE to read more).
For a video of Crane’s presentation in Tennessee, visit www.diamondstandardparts.com.
