Ford, Aftermarket Tangle Over Collision Replacement Parts

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

For some time now, there’s been something of a low-scale war going on between OEMs and aftermarket parts suppliers just below the national media radar. The issue: whether or not aftermarket structural parts are as good as OEM parts. Ford has been a major proponent of the OEM-only approach, making the video you see above in hopes of proving that aftermarket parts aren’t up to the job. But the aftermarket is firing back, and they’ve made their own video in direct response to this one, which you can view after the jump.


The video above, made by the Automotive Body Parts Association, directly challenges the findings of Ford’s video experiments, arguing that they prove only that “motorists should avoid slowly driving into madmen wielding reciprocating saws.” In a press release, Co-Chair of the ABPA Legislation and Regulation Committee Eileen A. Sottile lays out her industry’s position

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. 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.

You can read a compilation of material on the debate over at bodypartbusiness.com if you want to dive deeper into the argument, but it seems to me that the aftermarket is always going to face a single challenge again and again: branding. Whereas the OEMs can put their brands on their products, consumers will always be wary of parts made by different companies. Some consumers will always buy off-brand in hopes of a deal, but when safety is at stake, trust is of the utmost importance. Buyers trust brands, whereas the aftermarket’s myriad companies can’t all have the prominence of, say, a Ford… and they can’t all guarantee the exact same quality either. Still, that doesn’t mean the OEMs aren’t unnecessarily fearmongering…

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Nrd515 Nrd515 on Aug 18, 2011

    When my 2000 GMC Sierra was "moderately" (The body shop's term) damaged in a wreck with two (both totalled) vehicles, I got to see how bad aftermarket parts can be. The front bumper they put on literally rusted in a week, it had little speckles of rust on it. They replaced it with a new OEM one after the insurance company stepped in. All in all, they (State Farm) spent more than my truck was worth to fix it, and it was never right. Between the brake issues, water leaks from the rear doors, and a string of bizarre electrical issues, it was a mess, and soon, I got rid of it. Why it wasn't totaled in the first place, I don't know.

  • Collision tech Collision tech on Nov 24, 2013

    Thirty yr. collision repair man here. I have installed thousand of aftermarket parts and only a hand full WITHOUT defects. I have installed thousands of OEM parts ford ,Honda, Chevy ,etc. Only a hand full WITH defects. The quality is not the same period. some aftermarket parts are so bad they cannot even be used. To confirm what I have said ask any body man that repairs cars and they will tell you the same.

  • Carson D At 1:24 AM, the voyage data recorder (VDR) stopped recording the vessel’s system data, but it was able to continue taping audio. At 1:26 AM, the VDR resumed recording vessel system data. Three minutes later, the Dali collided with the bridge. Nothing suspicious at all. Let's go get some booster shots!
  • Darren Mertz Where's the heater control? Where's the Radio control? Where the bloody speedometer?? In a menu I suppose. How safe is that??? Volvo....
  • Lorenzo Are they calling it a K4? That's a mountain in the Himalayas! Stick with names!
  • MaintenanceCosts It's going to have to go downmarket a bit not to step on the Land Cruiser's toes.
  • Lorenzo Since EVs don't come in for oil changes, their owners don't have their tires rotated regularly, something the dealers would have done. That's the biggest reason they need to buy a new set of tires sooner, not that EVs wear out tires appreciably faster.
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