February 27, 2019 — When it comes to recalls on auto parts, co-founder of the internet marketplace, Car-Part.com Jeff Schroder is one of the many auto recyclers concerned about gaining access to the proper information from OEMs.
This is a frustrating concern that Jeff has been working on for the past four years.
“It’s really a threat to the industry when they start to challenge the legitimacy of all of our parts,” he said.
“I don’t really feel that the industry is given the proper seat at the table in terms of looking at the automotive industry as a circular economy. The auto recycling industry really is a critical part of that process whether it’s helping to pull parts out for recalls or making sure that we have the correct information from the OEMs in order to be able to optimize the reuse of parts.”
But this isn’t just an issue for the U.S., it’s something that Jeff says is impacting auto recyclers all over the world.
“The quality information about recalls, quality information about part numberings, VIN data, that kind of information would greatly help with reuse and greatly increase safety by having a better recall system. And it is not being provided to the industry. I don’t know that it is being provided to the industry anywhere, nowhere that I’m aware of, not to the level we need.”
As Jeff has been working closely with the ARA for the past four years on a new solution for this issue he doesn’t see it being solved anytime soon.
“I do think it’s a really important issue, especially because some parties are claiming if you don’t know that a recycled part was not recalled how can you trust the legitimacy of our whole industry,” he said.
Car-Part has been working with Transport Canada and the U.S. National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration (NHTSA) to assist with testing and recovery of recalled airbags. With efforts to be heard, Car-Part and the ARA have written white papers on the issue, detailing the challenges with getting OEMs to provide more information on recalls, but it still hasn’t been implemented because the government has not forced the OEMs to provide the information needed to solve the problems.
“Some parts are recalled, and the industry is happy to pull those recalled parts out, but we need be able to do identify recalled parts electronically at scale and we need better information from the people who made the mistake in order to pull and report on the recalled parts. That’s the role of the government to look at the whole circular economy there and artificial barriers to a properly functioning industry.”
