ROLLOVER DEATHS
An expertly or factory-installed windshield is a major support for your roof. If yourinsurer has sent you to one of their cut-rate shops, and a sloppy job is done, that looks good but is totally unsafe, it could pop out during a rollover. The result - a crushed cab, along with serious injury or death. Here is an open letter from our founder, Ron Alford, to the NTSHA, regarding this:
This document was sent to NHTSA
To National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration,
I am presenting my case for a consumer safety matter regarding vehicle windshield replacement and collision repairs.
Here are a few facts that must be considered in order for the NHTSA to validate my account of the dealings in the insurance, auto glass and collision repair business today. Right under your nose these companies are directly or indirectly compromising the safety and well being of consumers like you and me.
Facts
My understanding is that the government requires manufacturers to build safe vehicles and invest tons of our tax dollars in this effort however, following a collision repair or a windshield replacement NOT ONE vehicle in America is required to be inspected to assure that the repair or replacement was done to provide safety for the consumer.
There are about 55,000 collision repair shops open for businesses today of which only around 20 percent are truly qualified to RE-MANUFACTURE a vehicle. The other 80 percent simply cosmetically “FIX” vehicles so that they may look good, but are rolling disasters looking for a place to happen. How can you let this continue?
In almost every state in the US the people who cut your hair are required to go to school for months, pass a test and then maintain a current license but, the people who we entrust to rebuild the most dangerous machine consumers operate are not required to have more than a few tools.
Several years ago I bought one of these “fixed” vehicles that almost cost me my life. And over the years, I have learned of many others who have suffered the same kinds of losses but did not have any recourse. You’re supposed to help. You are doing nothing. Today this matter is huge and getting worse.
Vehicles are intentionally manufactured by million dollar robots using 3 different metals to absorb impacts. The repair industry lacks trained and educated repairmen to deal with this new kind of technology.
According to insurers there are about 18,000 vehicle accidents every day of the year or 18,000 x 365 days = 650,000 vehicles annually whose safety has been compromised when the vehicle is improperly repaired “fixed” by failing to meet the manufacturer’s original bench measurements.
Windshield Replacements
Windshields are designed to act as a safety device to protect the occupants during impact.
During front-end collisions, the kinetic energy of the impact moves from the front end of the vehicle to the windshield and the energy is forced up the windshield to the roof that is designed to ripple. When windshields are improperly replaced, they fail to function and pop out and the passengers become sitting ducks for disaster.
Robots that cost millions of dollars install windshields and they are equipped with the best quality urethanes available.
In the field, one man with dubious training most often replaces windshields because of built-in incentives to do a fast and “cost savings” job for insurers. The insurers and glass people know this and gloss over the downsides by brainwashing consumers that windshield replacement is a 1 hr project saving the vehicle owner’s time.
These unsafe replacements occur when imitation urethanes and discount cost cutting labor is used to save insurers dollars. Seldom is the old urethane removed properly because it takes time and labor dollars to properly prepare for a replacement.
Example, the surface where the glass seats in the pinch welds are rarely prepared properly and end up rusting under the sealant and becoming loose over time. The owners are never told nor are they aware that this Cost Saving Convenience could cost them or their family their lives. You are risking the lives of people your organization was created to help.
More than 30 thousand windshields are replaced daily. That’s 10,950,000 windshields annually. Only one person does these replacements. Often the replacements are conducted in less than ideal conditions. In temperatures which are above or below the required ambient temperature for the urethane to cure correctly. Moreover, the installers are usually compensated on a per job basis or low hourly basis, with no supervision and no inspections. WHY?
I asked Tom Hughes, a marketing consultant who has studied this matter for the last 3 year and this is his reply.
Most maverick or subcontracted installers are not Urethane Manufacturer certified which is more important than National Glass Assoc. certification. NGA certification is a joke. Also, you need to mention they primarily use counterfeit or aftermarket glass, materials and urethanes. As with metal body panels, these windshields rarely meet Original Equipment standards. When placed in a standard glass check fixture, usually 10 out of 10 aftermarket windshields fail to touch all points of said fixture. PPG and LOF are Original Equipment glass manufacturers.
Collision Repairs
Once a collision repair is finished, to assure that a Vehicle meets OEM standards the repaired vehicle SHOULD be placed on a measuring bench and then measured in 6 dimensions. If these measurements fall long or short of the thickness of less than 2 dimes, the car is considered unsafe to be on the road. Most insurers and collision repair companies don’t even provide a front end alignment when the repair is finished much less measure and inspect their own work.
Having written 3 consumer books on risk and insurance management with CAR INSURANCE SECRETS focusing just on these topics, I can’t believe that insurers and collision repair companies are simply allowed to be put in the hands of innocent consumers whose lives depend on the vehicle performing as designed should another accident occur.
This act can be compared to giving a kid a loaded gun and then praying that they will be OK.
I anxiously await NTHSA Senior Management’s reply on this safety matter and I look forward to meeting the top guns in the NTHSA system to implement meaningful change to permanently remove these grave matters.
Sincerely concerned,
Ron Alford
www.ronalford.com
www.theplan.com