ACtion Magazine - May 2014 - (Page 38)

Fixing today's vehicles A s I considered a theme for this month's editorial, my thoughts turned to new challenges on the horizon for the service industry, but before I began to write about those, I remembered an editorial Andrew Ross of Jobber News wrote for his publication last fall. He acknowledged that the industry needs to be aware of, and plan to one day cope with, such things as "telematics, accident avoidance systems, Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication, Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communication, or self-driving vehicle technology," but counseled against dwelling on future technology. "The fact is that far too few technicians, counterpeople, and jobbers thoroughly understand the systems on vehicles that are currently filling aftermarket service bays to waste valuable training resources on the admittedly cool future ahead," Ross observed. A recent MACS survey of its members underscores his point. We asked, "Do you feel you have the tools, equipment and training It's 20 years later, and only to tackle most diagnostic challenges (including electrical/electronic trouble-shooting)?" very recently have we begun Three out of four respondents felt that their to see a new refrigerant. expertise equips them to handle most of the work that comes through their shops, but many admit it is a constant struggle to keep up with equipment, tools and learning. One case in point about lead time for future changes for our members is the transition from R-134a to alternatives in mobile air conditioning systems. Even as R-134a became the global refrigerant of choice to replace R-12 in the early 1990's, some were thinking about the next generation of refrigerants which would replace R-134a. It's 20 years later, and only very recently have we begun to see mobile A/C systems using a new refrigerant (R-1234yf) in vehicles on the road, although this newest transition from R-134a has been a topic of intense interest for more than a decade. Indications are that, as early as this summer, the U.S. EPA may propose a timetable that will eventually eliminate R-134a from use in new vehicle A/C systems sometime in the future. However, this is not expected to eliminate the use of R-134a to service the millions of vehicles already on the road, or those that will continue to be built for a number of years. We'll also watch with interest as others in our industry work to develop additional refrigerant alternatives for future new vehicles, but the clock really doesn't start on those alternatives until they're on the road in mass production. Many other technological developments are likely to impact the vehicle climate and thermal management service arena in years to come, but that's then and this is now. To paraphrase Mr. Ross' conclusion to his excellent editorial, this industry has plenty of challenges in dealing with the already formidable technology in cars on the road today. " Elvis Hoffpauir, Editor-in-Chief You can reach Elvis at elvis@macsw.org 38 ACTION * May 2014 Advertiser Index 1-800-Radiator & A/C............................2 AGS Company..................................... 18 AirSept .............................................. 32 Arizona Mobile Air ................................8 Austin Baker Industries, Inc. ................ 24 Automotive Test Solutions ................... 23 Behr-Hella............................................9 Blue Devil Products............................. 33 Dealer Automotive Service .................. 30 DENSO ............................................. 39 DuPont .............................................. 21 Four Seasons ...................................... 40 Global Parts ....................................... 29 MACS Worldwide .......................... 28, 35 MEI Corporation ............................... 6, 7 NAPA Auto Parts ................................. 13 Omega .............................................. 19 RTI .................................................... 11 Santech ............................................. 37 Schrader ............................................ 20 T/CCI Mfg. ......................................... 25 Tracer ................................................ 16 Trans/Air Mfg. .................................... 27 TSI Inc./SuperCool ................................3 TYC/Genera ........................................ 17 Universal Air Conditioner ......................5 To request information from our advertisers visit www.macsw.org and click on the ACtion Reader Reply button. Connect with MACS and the digital edition of ACtion™ http://www.macsw.org/imis15/MACS http://www.macsw.org http://www.macsw.org/imis15/MACS

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ACtion Magazine - May 2014

Selling the right things
Season opener
Outlook
Freeze Frame
Leonard's Law
Service Port
Virtual View
Last Watch
Member Profile
By the Numbers
Cooling Corner
Industry News
Association News
Letter to the editor
New Products

ACtion Magazine - May 2014