ILMA Compoundings December 2017 - 18

"Years ago, you either had Type A or
Type F transmission fluid, but transmissions have changed drastically
over the years, and their lubrication
requirements have changed over
the years, too."

field testing and other validation conducted by its additive suppliers, including data provided in confidence by the
additive suppliers to the enforcement
agency," Alfano wrote to the NCWM's
Laws and Regulations Committee.
Because marketers can't gain access
to OEM specifications and don't conduct their own field tests, relying on
supplier data is crucial.
"If I don't have the actual performance specification, how can I make
that claim that I am meeting it? We
wanted to make sure ILMA members rely on test data provided by the
additive supplier," Leiter said, adding
that API and regulators agreed to the
change. "Since you don't have specifications for most of the transmissions, it is
difficult to say you meet them, but you
can say it is suitable for use and will
perform in a transmission made by X."
Ferrick said the changes are not setting a performance standard, but only

DECEMBER 2017

| COMPOUNDINGS | ILMA.ORG

provide guidance on how marketers
identify what the fluid does. "What
is behind the performance claims is a
whole different issue, and the National
Conference on Weights and Measures
doesn't address that," he said.

| The Need for Change
Ferrick said transmission fluid language
in the existing handbook was woefully
out of date. "It required that you identify a transmission by duty type. That
is a very old way of defining a transmission fluid standard," he said. "Years
ago, you either had Type A or Type F
transmission fluid, but transmissions
have changed drastically over the years,
and their lubrication requirements have
changed over the years, too."
The transmission fluids market has
grown increasingly more complex over
the past 25 years, Alfano said. "Vehicle
manufacturers - OEMs - look to
transmission fluids, as a vehicle com-

ponent, for their contributions to fuel
economy improvement, while they
have extended drain intervals and have
reduced transmission sump sizes."
While one might expect these trends
to reduce the volume of ATFs and
other transmission fluids used in service
fills, the increasing number U.S. miles
traveled has sustained this market, with
that number reaching a record high of
3 trillion in 2016, Alfano said.
There are more than 100 ATF types
or technologies available in today's
market. Multivehicle ATF technologies have been developed and are
used by both OEM dealerships and
independent repair shops to effectively manage this increasingly complex
market, reduce inventories, reduce
potential misapplication and increase
customer choice.
"Based on additive company estimates, including an average vehicle
mileage of 10,000 miles per year,
multivehicle ATF technologies have
accumulated over 5.5 trillion miles of
real-world experience since their introduction," Alfano stated in her letter.
Kipp said transmission fluids are
very different from engine oils, in that
engine oils have industry performance
standards while transmission fluids
are spec'd by the manufacturer. "Each
manufacturer has its own performance
specifications. There is a wide proliferation of performance specs in the market," she said. "The need to stock many
different ATFs can lead to inventory
concerns at the retail and installer level,
and fluids that have been developed
to meet the performance demands of

http://www.ILMA.ORG

ILMA Compoundings December 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ILMA Compoundings December 2017