The heavy-duty/commercial vehicle industry recently announced agreement in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Commercial Right to Repair Coalition and the Engine Manufacturers Association (EMA), where OEMs of heavy-duty vehicles would provide service information to independent service providers by way of their OEM technical websites. To assist in managing the understanding, search and feedback related to this cooperative effort between heavy-duty OEMs and independent heavy-duty service specialists, the National Automotive Service Task Force (NASTF) was asked to expand its scope with the addition of heavy-duty to its similar service already being provided to the light vehicle industry.“The MOU is a perfect fit for NASTF and its mission,” said Charlie Gorman, immediate past chairman of NASTF. “NASTF provides the framework for communication and cooperation by making existing services available to HD technicians. We invite and welcome EMA and its members to take full advantage of what NASTF has to offer.”
Initially, NASTF will concentrate on updating its popular OEM Service Website index, nastf.org/OEMtechsites, with the addition of technical website URLs for all heavy-duty vehicle and major component OEMs. Concurrently, NASTF will begin accepting questions from independent heavy-duty technicians on the NASTF Service Information Request (SIR) feedback feature. As heavy-duty OEMs and independent heavy-duty service techs gain experience in their new level of shared service information, NASTF will attempt to add helpful features to nastf.org to assist HD techs in finding the OEM resource they need, and to assist HD OEMs in successful delivery to those techs of what they have made available.
“The Commercial Right to Repair MOU is only the first step in ensuring the independent aftermarket is in an equal position with the dealers to service commercial vehicle customers,” said Marc Karon, president of Total Truck Parts Inc. and representative of the heavy-duty coalition. “The Commercial Vehicle Solutions Network (CVSN), which led the fight in right to repair for commercial vehicles, is committed to seek out the best solutions to help our industry achieve that equality. NASTF is recognized as being uniquely qualified to provide the linkage to the vehicle manufacturers for software downloads and initially reconciling conflicts dealing with the access to information. CVSN will also work with NASTF on education issues to make sure technicians working in the independent aftermarket are of the highest caliber.”
