The affiliate associations of the National Automotive Trades Association of Canada (NATA) have joined with other major associations in the United States and Australia in recognizing original equipment repair procedures as the basis for collision repair training and repair standards.
While most collision repairers assume original equipment manufacturers' (OEM)
procedures are standards by default, it has never been officially established.
NATA, in concert with other international associations, released the following statement to clarify the association's position:
"As the largest association of grassroots collision repairs in Canada, we hereby recognize published repair procedures, as provided by automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEM) as the official industry recognized "Repair Standards" for collision repair. These standards, where they exist, shall be the basis for the establishment of training, testing, repair practices and documentations.
"Whereas we acknowledge the OEM repair procedures are incomplete in comparison to the full scope of vehicles and repair operations which exist in the marketplace, the OEM published repair procedures shall serve as the baseline for industry repair standards, with the recognition that further development of procedures will be necessary in areas not covered by published procedures."
As well as Canada's National Automotive Trades Association, and the Collision Repair Specialists of Australia, other associations signing on to this statement are 22 U.S. state associations, as well as the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers , the Automotive Service Association, the Society of Collision Repair Specialists and the Assured Performance Network.