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| News for Automotive Tool and Equipment Professionals |
February 2013 |
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ETI Exclusives
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Call for Nominations for ETI Board of Directors
 The ETI Nominating Committee will be meeting soon to select a slate of nominees for the ETI Board of Directors, to be voted upon electronically prior to the ETI Annual Membership Meeting (ToolTech). This meeting is scheduled for Tuesday April 23, 2013, at ToolTech in San Diego, CA. This year there are 3 Board seats up for election. Board members whose terms expire this year are: Greg Potter (DG Technologies), Brian Herron (Drew Technologies), and one currently open position. There is also an officer position open, Secretary Treasurer. ETI will be accepting applications for consideration by the Nominating Committee. ETI has no term limits for board members, nor does it have an automatic term renewal policy. Existing board members and new candidates must both apply in order to be considered for the expired Board seats.
Click here to view the Candidate Information Page on our website. The Candidate Information Page outlines the responsibilities and expectations of a Board member. It is important that the nominee understands the scope and requirements of the position. You will be asked to acknowledge this understanding when filling out the application form.
Click here to go to the Application Form. Please fill out this form if you would like to be considered for a board of director or officer position.
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Equipment and Tool Institute Launches Important J-2534 Market Research Study
 In an effort to assist our members in bringing new and improved equipment and tools to the marketplace, the Equipment and Tool Institute (ETI) has launched a series of Market Research Projects. The current survey is an update to research done in 2009 and covers Flash Reprogramming, or J2534 as it is also known. We are surveying automotive repair facilities in an effort to find out more about their familiarity with and use of flash reprogramming tools and any new information involved with flash reprogramming. ETI will use this research to help all segments of the automotive industry provide aftermarket shops with better flash reprogramming solutions.
There will be a presentation on the findings of ETI’s Market Research Study at ToolTech 2013 in San Diego, California April 23-25, 2013 and DVDs with the complete study information including spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations. Documents will be made available to all attendees.
If you are part of an automotive repair facility and are interested in participating in our survey, please click here
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| Messages From ETI Leadership |
Upcoming ETI Market Research Survey on Aftermarket Service Information Access
Jessie Korosec, ETI Marketing Manager
 ETI is in the process of developing a Market Research Survey on Aftermarket Service Information Access for the purpose of finding out what information resources technicians are using in the repair of vehicles and how they are using the information.
Some of the components of the survey will include questions such as:
- Are technicians accessing information online, using DVDs, or paper manuals?
- Are technicians using fully integrated information from an aftermarket provider? single source or muti-source solutions
- Are technicians using individual OEM paid information sites?
- Are technicians using manuals? From whom?
- Are technicians using unaffiliated information sources such as YouTube or bulletin boards?
- How often is the information accessed?
- What type of access to the information do technicians want? By the hour/day?
- Are technicians looking for step-by-step instructions or quick specifications or quick reference material?
- Do technicians need additional training on how to use service information?
- How does the quality of Aftermarket information compare to the information from the OEMs?
- Is the information complete from whatever source they are using, what is missing and from whom?
- How far back on model years do the technicians need access to information?
- What is the perceived value of service information needed vs. the cost involved?
ETI will use this Market Research to assist our members in bringing new and improved products to the marketplace and to help all segments of the automotive industry provide aftermarket shops with better repair solutions.
If you are interested in participating in the development of this survey, please contact me at jessiek@etools.org
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| Industry Insights |
Volkswagen to Bring Infotainment System to U.S. This Year
Automotive News
Volkswagen will begin offering an infotainment system in the United States this year, the company’s U.S. marketing boss said today. The system, named Car-Net, is similar to Ford Motor Co.’s Sync and MyFord Touch software, Tim Mahoney, chief marketing officer at Volkswagen of America, told Automotive News here during the National Automobile Dealers Association convention. It likely will be made available across the brand’s product line, but a final decision has not been made, he said. The move will enable VW customers to equip their vehicles with features, such as roadside assistance, that many of its rivals have offered American drivers for years. It promises benefits but also risks, because adding the hardware and software to run these features has proved to be a challenge. Read more
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Virginia Man Sentenced for Trafficking in Counterfeit GM Diagnostic Equipment
US Department of Justice
A Virginia man was sentenced today in federal court to serve one year and one day in prison for selling counterfeit General Motors (GM) automotive diagnostic devices used by mechanics to identify problems with and assure the safety of motor vehicles, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Neil H. MacBride, FBI Assistant Director Ronald T. Hosko of the Criminal Investigative Division and Jeffrey C. Mazanec, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office. Read More
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NADA Economist: 15.4 Million in U.S. Vehicle Sales This Year
Automotive News
With the U.S. economy gaining momentum, NADA chief economist Paul Taylor predicts industry sales will top 15.4 million vehicles this year. That would be an increase of nearly 1 million vehicles from 2012. Speaking at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention here, Taylor said stronger auto sales will be supported by pent-up demand, available credit, more new-vehicle choices, declining unemployment, a used-vehicle shortage, improving home values and the fact that the United States avoided the fiscal cliff. Read More
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Panel Backs Embedded, Simple Telematics Systems
Automotive News
Telematics systems run the risk of becoming too complicated and distracting for drivers, yet they also can become outdated well before the vehicle's life is complete. So said a panel at the J.D. Power International Automotive Roundtable. "We are constrained by cycle development time for vehicles," said Vicki Poponi, American Honda assistant vice president of product development. Smartphone "systems can be ready in nine months. But people are holding on to cars for 11 years." That's why Honda created a cloud-based system to update telematics software over the air. "You can throw away an iPhone 4, but you can't do it with the capital investment of a car," Poponi said. At the same time, what customers can do with smartphone apps exceeds what most automakers can create in their telematics systems. "Customers will use a smartphone in the car anyway, so for us, it becomes how to do it with the car's" human-machine interface, Poponi said. "If they are going to use Facebook anyway, it's about how we can set up something appropriate for a car environment." Read More
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Slow-Recovering Economy to Help Used-Car Sales, Analyst Says
WardsAuto
Used-car buyers hit hard by the recent recession are expected to drive sales going forward, a top automotive analyst says at the National Automobile Dealer Assn. convention. Jonathan Banks, executive automotive analyst-NADA Used Car Guide, says buyers with older vehicles will turn to previously owned models rather than new, as the U.S. economy makes a slow march toward recovery and auto makers introduce new-for-’13 models with higher starting prices. Banks estimates the average age of vehicles on the road to be 10.8 years. However, with dropping unemployment rates and a recovery in the housing market, both new- and used-car markets will flourish, Banks says. “The hourly workers that got hit really hard (in the recession), what are they going to buy when they need to replace a 10.8-year-old vehicle? Read More
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Fuel Cell Vehicles Move Above the Horizon with Partnerships
J.D. Power and Associates
In the past few weeks, a number of major automakers have upped the ante on fuel-cell vehicle (FCV) research by forming new partnerships and alliances to speed up the development of affordable vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Combining research will shorten the time it will take to develop fuel cell cars and should also help reduce the costs, which currently are very high. Ford Motor Co., Renault-Nissan and Daimler Groups recently announced an alliance to share in developing affordable cars that can run on hydrogen by 2017. The plan is to develop a common fuel cell system that will reduce costs through scalability. Read More
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| Business Buzz |
The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies 2013
Fast Company
Our annual Most Innovative Companies list isn’t simply a ranking; it is constructed to represent the state of innovation in our economy. In the Age of Flux, continuous improvement, speed of change, and breadth of ambition are more important than ever--as you’ll see by the way these companies succeed. They offer many lessons that cross industry: social is now a layer for everyone; software is the “wow” factor; data makes a big difference; and in a world of instant gratification, long-term investment still matters. You’ll no doubt find many other lessons for what works right now. Act fast: By next year, the state of innovation--and what it takes to succeed--could change again. Read More
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10 Leadership Nuggets from Abraham Lincoln
Lucy P. Marcus via LinkedIn
Abraham Lincoln is very much in the news these days, with examinations of his character, his actions, and his leadership style. The New York Times has an article about the management lessons that can be learned from Abraham Lincoln. It got me to thinking: some of the most enduring Lincoln quotes bring us wisdom in a nutshell. Read More
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Bad Brand Humor in Social Media
Saya Weissman via Digiday
Brands don’t always know what to do on social media. They tend to just make noise and fill space with cheesy retweet requests and random tidbits that don’t really have much to do with the brand. Besides the retweet and like-bait posts, sometimes brands try to be funny on social media; and unsurprisingly they aren’t. Here are five bad examples of brands attempting humor on Facebook and Twitter. If you are a big brand, maybe just keep the corny joke to yourselves. Read More
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Five Tricks for Remembering Names
Rita J. King via LinkedIn
How can you avoid the panic that can come from forgetting someone’s name almost as soon as you’re introduced? The fact is, names just aren’t a priority for our brains, which evolved to remember critical details that affect survival, like the face of an enemy or the location of nutritious food. For the past couple of years I’ve been working with James Jorasch and Chris Harwood, who compete each year in the US Memory Championships. As they train for the competition this time around, I thought it would be helpful to share some of their tips on how to remember names. Read More
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| Wise Words |
Attitude is everything, so pick a good one
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