AUTO REPAIR HEARINGS BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON CONSUMER PROTECTION OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE NINETY-FIFTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON THE ENTIRE RANGE OF PROBLEMS AND POTENTIAL SEPTEMBER 14, 20, 21, 25, OCTOBER 19, AND DECEMBER 4, 1978 43-030 O Serial No. 95-201 Printed for the use of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1979 COMMITTEE ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE HARLEY O. STAGGERS, West Virginia, Chairman JOHN E. MOSS, California 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 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, Bragg, David F., Chief, Consumer Protection Division, Attorney General's Brownlee, Michael, Director, Office of Automotive Ratings, National High- 5 Ditlow, Clarence M., III, executive director, Center for Auto Downs, Morgan, Downs & Sons Auto Service........ Florentine, George A., executive director, Independent Garage Owners Gist, Sharon, acting commissioner, department of consumer sales, weights, and measures, Chicago's Consumer Protection Agency. Gregg, Barbara B., president, National Association of Consumer Agency Hazelroth, Francis G., general manager, service and parts division, 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 48, 71 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 Rose, George, investigative counsel, Office of Consumer Affairs, National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators. 298, 305 Stenson, Carl, service research, General Motors Corp 429 Stone, Daniel C., manager, motor vehicle inspection programs, Hamilton 143, 144 Uzick, Mrs. Adolph, Houston, Tex. 374 Vance, Carrol, district attorney of Harris County 354 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 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 Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, attachments to Mr. Kelley's prepared statement: Letter dated December 13, 1978 from Mr. Florentine regards to auto- 111 Table 4-1-Vehicle damage assessment-Test No. 11 395 397 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 Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Consumer Letter dated December 8, 1978, from Mr. Miller to Mr. Berndt re speed Attachment F-Insurance Institute for Highway Safety 1979 model 533 534 3 Chart-Automobile related prices and the cost of living 1972-78. Car's age influences maintenance. Unperformed maintenance: $5.4 billion in potential aftermarket More than 40 percent of maintenance functions never performed 39 40 41 42 Percentage of original-owner cars that have never had the product 43 44 Number of years it takes 50 percent of original-owner cars to have 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 |