ABPA Releases New Video Highlighting Crash Test Data That Confirms Performance and Safety of Aftermarket Auto Parts

HOUSTON--Aug. 16, 2011: The Automotive Body Parts Association (ABPA) today released a new video illustrating the safety and quality of aftermarket auto parts.  The video, which is available on the ABPA website and YouTube, showcases actual high- and low-speed crash tests.  The video's conclusions are based upon the crash tests as well as lump mass modeling simulations and quasi-static crush tests designed by engineers with extensive experience in automotive safety systems.

Side-by-side video taken during a high-speed crash test illustrates the simultaneous airbag deployment (down to the millisecond) for two 2006 Toyota Corollas, one outfitted with an aftermarket bumper reinforcement bar and the other a car company equivalent.  This evidence undercuts with facts the false assertion by some car companies that airbag timing is affected by using comparable aftermarket components.  

The high-speed crash data also shows the aftermarket- and the car company-equipped cars both delivering occupant safety well within the federal safety standards, with the car outfitted with non-branded car company parts actually delivering slightly better occupant protection as measured across 11 key injury criteria.

In low-speed crash tests presented in the video, an aftermarket bumper reinforcement bar outperforms an equivalent car-company branded part, effectively absorbing impact without deployment of airbags while sustaining less damage that results in a $200 lower repair estimate.  

"Time and again the aftermarket industry has demonstrated the safety and quality of its products, yet some car companies seem determined to counter scientific facts with fear-mongering," said Co-Chair of the ABPA Legislation and Regulation Committee Eileen A. Sottile. "OEs cannot credibly argue that only their branded parts can provide safety, especially when it comes to components that play a very small role in crash energy management.  If car company safety systems cannot handle a wide range of real world crash conditions and material differences in minor replacement parts then they are not robustly engineered and as such are a significant threat to the consumers."

Sottile added: "Rather than relentlessly smearing our industry in an attempt to gain a competitive business advantage on replacement parts, our biggest corporate critics would do well to focus on reducing their own recalls and delivering high-quality, robustly engineered products for the motoring public."

About ABPA

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, the Automotive Body Parts Association represents manufacturers, distributors and suppliers of independently produced aftermarket body parts.  The membership base consists of more than 150 of the industry's leading companies which operate in approximately 400 separate locations and which supply more than 75 percent of these type parts to the marketplace.