AUTO REPAIR HEARINGS BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON CONSUMER PROTECTION AND FINANCE OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NINETY-FIFTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON THE ENTIRE RANGE OF PROBLEMS AND POTENTIAL REMEDIES ASSOCIATED WITH WHAT THE CONSUMERS OF THIS NATION PERCEIVE AS THE AUTO REPAIR PROBLEM SEPTEMBER 14, 20, 21, 25, OCTOBER 19, AND DECEMBER 4, 1978 COMMITTEE ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE HARLEY O. STAGGERS, West Virginia, Chairman JOHN E. MOSS, California JOHN D. DINGELL, Michigan PAUL G. ROGERS, Florida LIONEL VAN DEERLIN, California RICHARDSON PREYER, North Carolina JAMES J. FLORIO, New Jersey ANTHONY TOBY MOFFETT, Connecticut JIM SANTINI, Nevada ANDREW MAGUIRE, New Jersey MARTY RUSSO, Illinois EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts THOMAS A. LUKEN, Ohio DOUG WALGREN, Pennsylvania BOB GAMMAGE, Texas ALBERT GORE, JR., Tennessee BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland SAMUEL L. DEVINE, Ohio JAMES T. BROYHILL, North Carolina CONTENTS September 14, 1978, Washington, D.C September 20, 1978, Washington, D.C September 21, 1978, Washington, D.C September 25, 1978, Houston, Tex October 19, 1978, Chicago, Ill December 4, 1978, Washington, D.C. Argall, Robert, liaison officer, Wisconsin Auto Collision Technicians As- Benck, Henry, president, National Body Shop Council, Automotive Service Page 511 477 Benedetto, Michael A., Jr., chief, Chicago office, Illinois Attorney General's Consumer Fraud and Protection Division, on behalf of William J. Scott, Brownlee, Michael, Director, Office of Automotive Ratings, National High- Downs, Morgan, Downs & Sons Auto Service... Florentine, George A., executive director, Independent Garage Owners .. 96, 105 Gist, Sharon, acting commissioner, department of consumer sales, weights, Henneberger, Lawrence F., general counsel, Motor and Equipment Manu- Higgins, C. W., chairman of the board, Automotive Parts and Accessories Hitz, Neil, general parts manager, American Motors Corp......... Hunsucker, James D., administrative assistant, Michigan Department of Hunt, David, associate legislative counsel, National Automobile Dealers 212 James, William, director, Approved Auto Repair Services, American Auto- 361 Johnson, Clarence, director, Texas Public Interest Research Group, Uni- 346 (III) Krughoff, Robert M., president, Washington Center for the Study of Laue, Douglas, deputy chief, California State Bureau of Auto- Ligon, W. H., managing director, Texas Service Station Association Page 308 48, 83 369 5, 143, 188 McCarthy, Frank E., executive vice president, National Automobile Deal- McDowell, D. James, managing director, Automotive Engineering and 212 48 212 Mizak, Raymond M., general manager-service, American Motors Corp.. 429, 459 Moretti, Therese, Addison, Ill 477, 491 O'Neill, Brian, vice president for research, Insurance Institute for Highway 511 Pansa, O. Robert, director, service section, consumer relations and service staff, General Motors Corp. 429 Persley, Allen S., Houston, Tex. 367 Pipes, Larry A., on behalf of the American Automobile Association of 143, 179 Raftery, William A., president, Motor and Equipment Manufacturers 36 Randall, Donald A., counsel, Automobile Service Councils, Inc. 96 48, 76 Richardson, Archie G., Jr., president, Automobile Owners Action 143, 171 Richey, Allen, executive vice president, Automotive Service Association .... 96 Vogelheim, Karl, director, warranty administration, American Motors 429 Warren, Glen, director, consumer relations, General Motors Corp 429 21 Welsh, Shelby, past president, Automobile Service Association. 340 West, E. O., Houston, Tex 376 Additional material submitted for the record by- Economic impact of the automobile industry in the State of Texas....... Automotive Parts and Accessories Association, letter dated December 8, Automotive Service Councils, Inc., letter dated February 8, 1979, from Mr. Letter dated January 4, 1979, from Mr. Ditlow to Chairman Eckhardt Illinois Attorney General's consumer fraud and protection division Chicago 421 Exhibit 2-Table 3.1-Satisfaction by purchase category 422 Exhibit 3-Table 5.6-Unremedied strong nonprice problems by pur- 423 Statement of-Continued Independent Garage Owners of Massachusetts, Inc.: Marchitelli, Rich, president, Automotive Legislative Council of Amer- Page 107 Letter dated December 13, 1978 from Mr. Florentine regards to auto- 111 Table 4-1-Vehicle damage assessment-Test No. 11 Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, attachments to Mr. Kelley's prepared statement: 10 mph front into side average of all vehicles. 395 397 Attachment A-Excerpt from Insurance Institute for Highway Safety 401 Attachment B―The highway loss reduction status report 402 404 410 Attachment A-Costs to repair crash test damage for comparable 1978 527 Attachment B-Examples of technology 528 Attachment C-Insurance Institute for Highway Safety 1979 model 530 Attachment D-Estimated costs to repair 1979 models in 5-mile-per- 531 Attachment E-Estimated costs to repair 1979 models in 10-mile-per- 532 Letter dated December 8, 1978, from Mr. Miller to Mr. Berndt re speed Attachment F-Insurance Institute for Highway Safety 1979 model 533 534 Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Consumer Chart-Automobile related prices and the cost of living 1972-78 Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association, William A. Raftery, Car's age influences maintenance. Unperformed maintenance: $5.4 billion in potential aftermarket 43 39 40 More than 40 percent of maintenance functions never performed 41 42 Percentage of original-owner cars that have never had the product Number of years it takes 50 percent of original-owner cars to have 44 National Automobile Dealers Association, appendixes to Mr. Mallon's Appendix A-Letter dated August 25, 1978, from Chairman Eckhardt 242 244 268 270 National Body Shop Council, Automobile Service Council's, Inc., attachments to Mr. Benck's prepared statement: Letter dated March 1, 1978, from Mr. Orrico to Motor Trend Magazine 485 Letter dated March 22, 1978, from Mr. Scagnetti, Mr. Orrico 490 Letters submitted for the record by Covington & Burling, Richard D. Copaken and John J. Donohue, counsel to 558 White House, Esther Peterson, Special Assistant to the President for 545 Statement submitted for the record by John Langhorne, Jr., president of 561 |