A Montana bill requiring insurance to cover OEM procedures overwhelmingly passed the Senate Monday. 

With a 49-1 vote in favor, SB356 was moved out of the Senate and to the House Business & Labor Committee. 

A Montana bill requiring insurance to cover OEM procedures overwhelmingly passed the Senate Monday. 

With a 49-1 vote in favor, SB356 was moved out of the Senate and to the House Business & Labor Committee. 

Sen. Barry Usher (R-19), bill sponsor, told the Senate during a second reading of the bill Saturday, that it is about safety inspections. 

“There are standards that manufacturers have,” Usher said. He said this includes safety inspections on seatbelts and airbags following a collision. 

Usher said some insurance companies are fighting OEM procedures that include safety inspections. 

“This [bill] gets them in line and guarantees more safety for the consumers,” Usher said. 

No one in the Senate spoke against the bill. 

The bill keeps insurance companies from disregarding or requesting a repair business to disregard repair instructions from an OEM or safety inspections of collision-damaged automobiles recommended by an original equipment manufacturer. 

Language in the bill notes that the requirements do not restrict the use of alternative repair parts. 

The bill has received support from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (Auto Innovators), Ford and GM. 

Ted Culbertson, Montana Collision Repair Association (MCRA) president, said Tuesday the bill is important for Montana consumers. 

“When it comes to the people who design and crash test the cars, they understand what needs to happen for the vehicles to be restored to max standards,” Culbertson said. 

Culbertson said other trades, such as plumbing and electrical have code books. He said passage of the law would clarify for insurance companies that OEM procedures are the collision industries codebook. 

The bill’s success in the Senate is partly due to the support of Auto Innovators, Ford, GM and the MCRA members and supporters, Culbertson said. 

“I 100% think power is in numbers,” Culbertson said. “I absolutely think we have one of the greatest associations in the nation.” 

Paul Flores, MCRA vice president, explained the importance of OEM procedures to the Montana Senate Business, Labor and Economic Affairs Committee last week. 

“Every accreditation and information provider that deals with us in our industry all point to the reference of OEM repair procedures,” Flores said. “That is the gold standard. That is the No. 1 standard as we assist consumers in the state of Montana.”

John MacDonald, representing Auto Innovators, said during last week’s hearing that the organization sees OEM repair procedures as a serious public policy issue. 

“Today’s vehicles are considerably more advanced than even vehicles a few years ago,” MacDonald said. “Features including things like automotive lane centering, adaptive cruise control, pedestrian detection and avoidance, and dozens of other — what we call ADAS, or advanced driver assistance systems — are standard in a lot of vehicles.” 

Proper procedures are in place to fix ADAS systems, MacDonald said. He said these procedures are provided to repair shops by automakers. 

“We firmly believe that the OEM procedures should guide the work that’s done,” MacDonald said.

Greg Van Horssen, a State Farm representative, said during the hearing that the insurance industry and repairers want to return a vehicle to its pre-accident condition.

“We have an obligation to return a car to its pre-accident condition, and we try to do that as cheaply and as reasonably as possible,” Van Horssen said. “Any time the cost of repair goes up, so does your insurance premiums, and you know what your insurance premiums are doing in the past five years or so.” 

Van Horssen said the vagueness of the bill would cause prices to increase. 

“We do support and would support and do follow specific technical procedures but not position statements or general checklists or safety inspection checklists because they are general,” Van Horssen said. “They are in the manufacturer’s book. These are not repair procedures. They are suggestions, and we think this bill would require us to follow that, and we believe that it would result in an astronomical increase to your insurance premiums.”

The Society of Collision Repair Specialists discussed how safety inspections are a part of OEM procedures during a 2019 open board meeting. 

Ron Reichen, Precision Body and Paint owner, referenced three examples of litigation stemming from the failure of a shop to perform safety inspections during the meeting. 

A former regional MSO owner shared an account of his experience of being sued after failure to do a safety check at SEMA in 2018.

Montana Sen. Barry Usher (R-19) , bill sponsor, told the Senate during a second reading of the bill Saturday, that it is about safety inspections. 

“There are standards that manufacturers have,” Usher said. He said this includes safety inspections on seatbelts and airbags following a collision. 

Usher said some insurance companies are fighting OEM procedures that include safety inspections. 

“This [bill] gets them in line and guarantees more safety for the consumers,” Usher said. 

No one in the Senate spoke against the bill. 

The bill keeps insurance companies from disregarding or requesting a repair business to disregard repair instructions from an OEM or safety inspections of collision-damaged automobiles recommended by an original equipment manufacturer. 

Language in the bill notes that the requirements do not restrict the use of alternative repair parts. 

The bill has received support from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (Auto Innovators), Ford and GM. 

Ted Culbertson, Montana Collision Repair Association (MCRA) president, said Tuesday the bill is important for Montana consumers. 

“When it comes to the people who design and crash test the cars, they understand what needs to happen for the vehicles to be restored to max standards,” Culbertson said. 

Culbertson said other trades, such as plumbing and electrical have code books. He said passage of the law would clarify for insurance companies that OEM procedures are the collision industries codebook. 

The bill’s success in the Senate is partly due to the support of Auto Innovators, Ford, GM and the MCRA members and supporters, Culbertson said. 

“I 100% think power is in numbers,” Culbertson said. “I absolutely think we have one of the greatest associations in the nation.” 

Paul Flores, MCRA vice president, explained the importance of OEM procedures to the Montana Senate Business, Labor and Economic Affairs Committee last week. 

“Every accreditation and information provider that deals with us in our industry all point to the reference of OEM repair procedures,” Flores said. “That is the gold standard. That is the No. 1 standard as we assist consumers in the state of Montana.”

John MacDonald, representing Auto Innovators, said during last week’s hearing that the organization sees OEM repair procedures as a serious public policy issue. 

“Today’s vehicles are considerably more advanced than even vehicles a few years ago,” MacDonald said. “Features including things like automotive lane centering, adaptive cruise control, pedestrian detection and avoidance, and dozens of other — what we call ADAS, or advanced driver assistance systems — are standard in a lot of vehicles.” 

Proper procedures are in place to fix ADAS systems, MacDonald said. He said these procedures are provided to repair shops by automakers. 

“We firmly believe that the OEM procedures should guide the work that’s done,” MacDonald said.

Greg Van Horssen, a State Farm representative, said during the hearing that the insurance industry and repairers want to return a vehicle to its pre-accident condition.

“We have an obligation to return a car to its pre-accident condition, and we try to do that as cheaply and as reasonably as possible,” Van Horssen said. “Any time the cost of repair goes up, so does your insurance premiums, and you know what your insurance premiums are doing in the past five years or so.” 

Van Horssen said the vagueness of the bill would cause prices to increase. 

“We do support and would support and do follow specific technical procedures but not position statements or general checklists or safety inspection checklists because they are general,” Van Horssen said. “They are in the manufacturer’s book. These are not repair procedures. They are suggestions, and we think this bill would require us to follow that, and we believe that it would result in an astronomical increase to your insurance premiums.”

Multiple OEMs have released documents that clearly state safety inspections are required.

A document from GM revised in May 2021 is titled “Repairs and Inspections Required After a Collision.”  The document lists multiple components that require safety inspections including, for example, seatbelts, brake pedals and steering columns.

A Volkswagen document states that the supplemental restraint system (SRS) is a critical component of all Volkswagen vehicles’ seat belt safety systems. It says that even in minor collision impacts where the SRS airbag does not deploy, various components must be thorougly inspected for damage.

The Society of Collision Repair Specialists discussed how safety inspections are a part of OEM procedures during a 2019 open board meeting. 

Ron Reichen, Precision Body and Paint owner, referenced three examples of litigation stemming from the failure of a shop to perform safety inspections during the meeting. 

A former regional MSO owner shared an account of his experience of being sued after failure to do a safety check at SEMA in 2018.

IMAGES

Montana Sen. Barry Usher (R-19) speaks on Senate floor/screenshot