A FOND FAREWELL
Collision Repair magazine would like to wish Keith Tuttosi, longtime national director for Napa Auto Parts, a happy retirement. Tuttosi—who has had a 36-year career across UAP, NAPA and CMAX—has been offered fond farewells by friends and coworkers following his retirement announcement on LinkedIn. Such comments include wellwishers saying that Tuttosi “will be sorely missed;” others highlight his “integrity in all dealings as a business partner” and some say Tuttosi has “been an amazing ambassador for NAPA and our industry.”
MOTOR METHODS
The federal Minister of Transport, Pablo Rodriguez, has recently announced new penalties for companies who violate the Motor Vehicle Safety Act. Under the new regulations, penalties will range up to $4,000 for an individual violating the act, and up to $200,000 for a company. Penalties would apply per violation, meaning that they could be stacked for multiple violations. For severe violations affecting multiple vehicles, Transport Canada could issue severe penalties such as those affecting multiple vehicles, tires, child restraint systems and types of equipment used in the restraint of disabled persons. According to the announcement, a number of factors will be used to determine the size of the penalty given. These include the determined harm or risk raised by the violation or the degree of negligence involved. Past reports from Transport Canada indicate that financial penalties and the risk of these penalties are a proven and effective deterrent in maintaining automotive safety.
ACHIEVING EV AWARENESS
The Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) Education Foundation revised its accreditation standards in late September for its 2022-2023 truck and collision repair training program outlines. In 2022 and 2023, technical revision committees from different levels of education and expertise within the automotive industry, recognized the growing number of high-voltage systems and EV adoption, and began to add related tasks, tools and equipment to featured standards included in this program. The foundation has also published a list of training resources that automotive educational programs can use when planning updates to the curriculums and training equipment needed when addressing EV technologies. With the future plan of reviewing standards again in 2024, Mike Coley, president of the ASE Education Foundation highlighted the ASE’s desire to add recommendations regarding tasks, tools and equipment similar to the ones developed for medium/heavy duty truck and collision repair.
WORKING WELDING WESTWARD
I-CAR Canada has a new partnership with the Canadian Welding Bureau (CWB Group) to help increase welding training opportunities across Canada. Through this partnership, CWB will lend the use of its training facilities in Milton, Ontario, and Nisku, Alberta, while I-CAR Canada will offer its nationwide training instructors for in-class learning. The goal of this initiative is to ensure that welding training from I-CAR Canada will be accessible to all Canadians in a timely manner, even those residing in rural areas. In order to do this, CWB training instructors will be travelling across the country to train technicians in-shop.
