by Amy Antenora
Editor, aftermarketNews.com
On Tuesday, aftermarketNews broke the news that the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Better Business Bureau issued a recommendation that Honeywell Consumer Products Group discontinue its advertising that suggests its Prestone Extended Life Antifreeze/Coolant can be used in all makes and models of automobiles and light trucks and is compatible with all other antifreeze products.
The recommendation is the latest in a multi-year debate between Honeywell and The Valvoline Co. regarding ‘universal’ coolants versus application-specific coolants. (For more background on this issue, click here.)
In a written statement, Honeywell provided the following response to the NAD ruling:
“Honeywell strongly disagrees with the opinion of the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Better Business Bureau regarding Prestone Extended Life Antifreeze.
“We believe the NAD in this instance has improperly substituted its own judgment for that of the leading standard development organization governing antifreeze, ASTM International, as well as long standing industry standards and practices. Others in the antifreeze industry have marketed for years and continue to market their extended life antifreezes under the same ASTM and industry standards at issue before the NAD.
“Honeywell continues to stand behind the claims and substantiation for its Prestone Extended Life Antifreeze and has requested a further review of the matter by the National Advertising Review Board of the Better Business Bureau.”
At the time of the first report on Tuesday, we were unable to reach officials at Prestone for comment. Today, in an exclusive interview, Michael Timmerman, VP of communications at Honeywell Transportation Systems and its Consumer Products Group, discusses the NAD ruling.
“ASTM has long been the standard and there has never been any doubt about that by anybody in the industry, including Valvoline,” said Timmerman. “They are part of the committee that makes those recommendations. They’ve never complained or tried to change them. Basically, what the NAD did was ignore the leading governing organization that sets the standards for this. We were totally surprised and I would go as far as saying that what NAD decided was unprecedented, which is why we are going to appeal this to the NARB.”
“I don’t want to make this about a dispute between two companies,” Timmerman added. “The NAD did something surprising and unprecedented. That’s the big point here. We’re confident that under review by the NARB [National Advertising Review Board] we’re going to come up with a more sensible final decision.”
ASTM International is one of the largest voluntary standards development organizations and a trusted source for technical standards for materials, products, systems and services.
In response to Honeywell’s comments, Andrea Levine, director of the National Advertising Division, said, “Honeywell has appealed the case to the NARB, and an NARB panel will ultimately decide this issue.”
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