Las Vegas -- During the NASTF press luncheon Nov. 1 at the Mirage Event Center, Chairman Charlie Gorman said, "The National Automotive Service Task Force (NASTF) has accomplished its goal of reorganizing by making the transition in July from a volunteer effort to a C-6 not-for-profit organization incorporated in the District of Columbia."

NASTF is currently funded by contributions from various industry entities. Mary Hutchinson will serve as full-time administrative director, Gorman said.

NASTF was founded in 2000 as a volunteer organization working to address gaps in service information, tooling, and training being made available to the aftermarket through Web sites constructed and maintained by domestic and import auto manufacturers. NASTF's primary function is to process complaints from industry participants regarding information accuracy and availability of OEM service information.

In addition to achieving its organizational goals, Gorman said NASTF has launched a new Web site (www.nastf.org) and is developing a set of corporate bylaws. NASTF is also partnering with the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) to handle administration and management of the new organization.

Gorman said those organizational changes have given NASTF an identity that establishes it as a "viable and influential force" throughout the automotive manufacturing and servicing industries.

Gorman also reported that NASTF began reaching out to all interested participants in October by issuing an "open letter" to solicit participation by all industry associations, organizations, and businesses involved in the automotive service industry. In brief, the letter states that the NASTF Board of Directors is comprised of representatives for the major stakeholders including technicians, shop owners, security professionals, tool companies, training providers, parts manufacturers and distributors, independent information providers, and automakers.

NASTF's major activities will continue to be handled through its standing committees, including the Service Information, Equipment and Tool, Training, and Vehicle Security committees, the letter said.

"The NASTF Communications Committee will continue to work with the Board of Directors and the other committees to solicit information from, and distribute information to, NASTF participants and other interested parties," the letter said.

Gorman said NASTF also intends to open the information system for review and will be writing new rules to accommodate that goal. "We don't want to leave anybody out of the process," he said

Regarding the distribution of OE information, Gorman said, "While it's going to take a longer time for equipment manufacturers to get the information they need, independent shop owners will get their service information immediately." He noted that merely having access to OEM information doesn't solve all service information problems. "Much is determined by the information the dealerships get, and sometimes we find that this information simply isn't adequate."

NASTF may look at a ranking system to provide a qualitative analysis of available information, Gorman said. "This might be needed to help shops stay in the loop and remain interested," he said. The OEM Web sites currently aren't seeing a lot of use by independent shops, he said, adding that most information access is provided through third-party service information providers.

At to the NASTF General Meeting, Gorman summarized his comments in opening remarks to the NASTF committees and the audience. Mary Hutchinson introduced herself to the audience by humorously noting that, through her appointment, "We're now drawing all of our frustrations into one location." Hutchinson also said NASTF has adopted a new corporate logo in step with achieving its new identity.

Holly Pugliese of the EPA provided an audit overview. Auditors composed of a group of qualified technicians spent three months reviewing OEM Web sites. Their research indicated that the Web sites were generally supportive and that short-term access was used more often than long-term subscriptions, primarily because their lower costs made them more attractive to independent shops.

Although auditors found the OEM information "most helpful," the greatest issues revolved around problems with reprogramming and reinitializing the various computers and modules found in modern vehicles. Few auditors, however, reported a large need for reprogramming or reinitializing information.

"The availability of Mode $6 and reprogramming information needs attention, however, because both are explicitly required by the EPA from the OE manufacturers," Pugliese said.

Jerry "G" Truglia and Karen Miller followed with a report from the NASTF training committee. Truglia said that a set of questions had been sent to the OEMs for responses and that the training matrixes of some OEMs have been updated. Truglia and Miller also noted that some OEMs feel that independent shops should be trained before they are allowed to buy an OEM scan tool. The question of whether training on OEM scan tools is readily available to independent shops is being explored, they said.

Gorman reported from the Equipment and Tool Committee that the current aftermarket J2534 pass-through reprogramming tools aren't sufficient to eliminate all compatibility issues. The J2534 committee is working to help solve current issues with aftermarket scan and reprogramming tools, he said.

John Cabaniss of the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers provided the meeting with a Communications Committee report describing approaches to distributing NASTF information to contributors and colleagues. ASE and the Automotive Service Association have provided valuable support in achieving this goal.

At the time of his report, four press releases had been made, along with e-mail updates, Cabaniss said. Meeting minutes have also been posted on the NASTF Web site. "The word (about NASTF) is getting out through trade publications and other media," he said.

Co-chairmen Mark Saxonberg of Toyota, representing automobile manufacturers, and Dave Lanspeary, owner of Dave's Auto Repair in Youngtown, Ariz., representing the independent sector, provided the Vehicle Security Committee report. The background for most vehicle security issues is that auto manufacturers quite obviously are reluctant to grant aftermarket access to information concerning the programming of "chipped" ignition keys designed to communicate with vehicle anti-theft systems.

At an earlier morning meeting of the Vehicle Security Committee, the main debate was how many employees of a specific locksmith firm would have access to sensitive vehicle antitheft programming information.

At the NASTF General Meeting, Saxonberg and Lanspeary reported that about 10,000 locksmiths practice in the United States and about 8,500 are members of the Associated Locksmiths of America (ALOA). The most difficult problem for the security committee is to determine how many of those locksmiths have a direct need for vehicle security information, they said.

At present, the committee is working to develop a secure database model that hopes to resolve the issue of qualifications needed for a vehicle security locksmith registry. The committee, in cooperation with the ALOA and the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), will develop a beta list of qualified locksmiths by the first quarter of 2007, Saxonberg and Lanspeary said.

That project will parallel vehicle security legislation signed into law by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in September. The registry will be announced publicly at the 2007 Industry Week committee meeting.