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Recyclers News Press
ARA Reaches Out to State Attorneys
General Across the Country
Last week ARA reached out to all 50 state attorneys general
taking proactive steps to address the highly publicized mis-
characterizations about the professional automotive recycling
industry recently made by some in the collision repair indus-
try, media and in Congress.
In the letters, ARA referenced the February 11, 2015 Ander-
son Cooper 360 broadcast on CNN investigating alleged
steering practices by insurance companies and expressed
concern with the gross misrepresentations of genuine, recy-
cled original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts portrayed
in that broadcast. ARA's letters highlighted several important
facts about recycled OEM parts that are critical for state attor-
neys general and their staff to know so that public comments,
press releases or actions taken
by their office related to the
professional automotive recy-
cling industry and recycled
OEM parts are well informed
and support the full spectrum of
parts choices.
Facts highlighted for the attor-
neys general included: automo-
biles are among the most recy-
cled commodities in today's marketplace and that the re-
utilization of quality OEM parts provide significant savings of
natural resources; the re-utilization of quality, OEM automo-
tive parts is a $32 billion industry in the United States; recy-
cled parts play an important economic role in the marketplace
and without their existence, many times there would be no
alternative part options to an expensive "new" part available
for hard working Americans - leaving them at the mercy of
automakers who would be in a monopolistic position in setting
the price for that part.
ARA will continue to educate policymakers at all levels about
the complexity of issues involved in the automotive insurance
and repair marketplace. ARA concluded the letters by asking
for leadership from the attorneys general to ensure that quali-
ty OEM recycled parts that are important in the marketplace
are not mischaracterized in a way that diminishes their utiliza-
tion in the professional repair process. ARA also encourages
state affiliate chapters to reach out to their state's chief legal
official.
ARA Works with National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) to Help Members Identify
Vehicles With Takata Airbag Recalls
ARA recently requested additional information from NHTSA to
help professional automotive recyclers identify vehicles in
their inventory may be subject to a Takata airbag(s) recall.
NHTSA directed ARA to their
www.safercar.govwebsite and
provided recall ID numbers to access the specific recall file.
Based on the automaker-submitted data within those files,
ARA staff created the attached document, which lists those
vehicles and which airbag(s) have been recalled due to a Ta-
kata airbag defect. Please note that some of the units are
currently only regional recalls and those only pertain to cer-
tain areas of the United States and/or their territories that are
indicated. Individual recyclers who determine that they have
one of the listed cars in their inventory can input a specific
VIN to safercar.gov and determine
if that particular vehicle's airbag(s)
are subject to a recall.
Automotive recyclers seeking to
participate in ARA class action liti-
gation can reference this infor-
mation to help them follow the rec-
ommended procedures. Under
those directions, professional auto-
motive recyclers are requested to
recover the recalled bags, store and maintain them through
the duration of the lawsuit for evidence or possible testing.
NHTSA reports that nearly 90 percent of vehicles with defec-
tive Takata airbag inflators remain unrepaired. Approximately
17 million vehicles with defective Takata airbags have been
recalled since 2008 and just under 2 million of those have
been fixed as of December 31st. Now Federal safety regula-
tors are assessing Takata with a $14,000 per day fine for fail-
ing to fully cooperate with a probe of the defective airbags.
Congress is also weighing in with oversight hearings and spe-
cific congressional communications. In a joint statement, U.S.
Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) have
called on Takata to immediately do everything possible to aid
federal safety regulators and automakers in determining what
is wrong and what needs to be done to expeditiously replace
airbags that could cause serious injury or the loss of life. ARA
continues its daily efforts to work with Congress and NHTSA
to urge legislators and regulators to consider the effects of the
recalls throughout the automotive parts supply chain.
ARA Updates
Industry news from the national association