Copyright 2001 The Tribune Co. Publishes The Tampa Tribune The Tampa Tribune
March 2, 2001, Friday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: BUSINESS & FINANCE, Pg. 1
LENGTH: 865 words
HEADLINE: Auto
technicians fear loss of data for repairs;
BYLINE: JEROME R. STOCKFISCH, of The Tampa Tribune;
BODY: BRANDON - Independent auto
technicians are prepared to do battle over perhaps their most important
tool: information.
Bob Clarke has a team of
well-trained and certified auto technicians at his Brandon shop. They've
amassed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of tools. High-end equipment
rings the garage, from a machine that balances tires electronically to an
eco-friendly parts washer.
But Clarke is worried that
he may soon be missing something critical to repairing today's cars and
trucks: information.
Clarke will travel to Detroit next
week for talks on independent service technicians' access to repair data
held by the world's automakers. It's a sticky issue - after all, independent
shops like Clarke Automotive Systems use that information to compete
directly with the automakers' own dealership service centers.
No problem, say the automakers. The independents get the
data they need today, and they will continue to get it in the future.
Clarke isn't convinced.
"They are
destroying competition," he says. "They are destroying a competitive marketplace
that by every measure serves you."
His doomsday
scenario envisions the automakers withholding complicated diagnostic information
from independent technicians, offering the data only to their authorized
service centers. Or effectively squeezing out shops like his by pricing
the information out of reach.
"They've got their
ambition," Clarke says. "Their ambition is to control the whole market."
Clarke isn't the only garage owner concerned.
"There's a lot of fear out there," acknowledges Tony Molla
of the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence.
The situation demonstrates how far automobile technology
has evolved. No longer does the corner gas station employ a grease monkey
who thumbs through a stained Chilton's manual before adjusting a screw on
your car's carburetor.
Today, the automakers like to
boast that their vehicles pack more computing power then an Apollo
spacecraft. The people fixing cars today are "technicians," not
"mechanics."
Here's how a typical auto repair diagnosis
might occur:
It could start with the dreaded "check
engine" indicator light on your dashboard. Say your car's warranty has
expired; you might go to your local independent mechanic to get it checked out
rather than an authorized dealership, where repairs are generally more
expensive.
The technician likely has the proper
connection on hand to plug into your car's on-board
diagnostic system, which sends a data stream on hundreds of operating
systems to a personal computer.
The technician
might find an unusual reading from the engine coolant temperature sensor. At
that point, he needs information from the manufacturer.
What are the resistance values of the thermistor? Maybe the sensor is
working properly; a wire might be bad. How about a wiring diagram?
"You're going to need information," says technician John
"Zach" Zacheis, a 31-year veteran of the field now at Clarke Automotive.
"Then you're going to need information to confirm your information."
And that information comes from the automaker. Now,
independent shops can contract with several services, AllData and
Mitchell's being the most popular, for the data. A garage like Clarke's pays
about $ 140 a month for access to data from virtually all of the world's
40-plus automakers.
Clarke says the information comes
"begrudgingly." And in trade publications and Web sites dedicated to the
independents, technicians complain that some needed information just isn't
there.
The current distribution arrangement involving
the third-party services such as AllData is likely to come to an end as a
California law takes effect that requires automakers to release diagnostic
data on their own.
Automakers are drawing up plans for
their individual diagnostic Web sites. They acknowledge that they will
charge for such information. Nobody's saying how much.
But it is "totally erroneous" to say the automakers will withhold the
data, says Ford's Mike Vaughn.
"It is simply not
true," he says. "It's a part of our business and it's not going to change. That
relationship, that availability of information, will be available in the
future as it is today. For a price, of course - it is not free."
John Cabaniss of the Association of International
Automobile Manufacturers says a series of meetings of various trade
associations - the automakers, the ASE, and the Service Technicians'
Society - should hash out some standards.
"A lot
is going on," Cabaniss said. "I personally would characterize it as a positive
thing. Until all these questions are answered, you can understand why
people are worried or skeptical about what will happen."
Clarke is among them. He considers it foreboding that one of the coming
Detroit sessions is titled "Diagnostic Knowledge Management," and an
agenda describes that as an "emerging business strategy."
"I've got a real pessimistic view of their (automakers') ethics and
their morality," he says. Jerome R. Stockfisch can be reached at (813)
259-7850 or jstockfisch@tampatrib.com
GRAPHIC:
PHOTO (C), JIM REED, Tribune photo (C) Brandon technician John
"Zach" Zacheis uses a laptop to diagnose an engine problem. Technicians fear
that automakers' control over diagnostic information will tighten even more.