Mazda: Pre- and post-repair scans required for safety, proper working condition of vehicles
Mazda has updated its position statement on pre- and post-scanning in collision repair, emphasizing both are required “to ensure vehicles are safely and accurately restored to proper working condition.”
It states that due to the complexity of performance, safety, and functionality of electronic systems and components, “it is essential that any vehicle involved in a collision undergo both a pre-repair and post-repair diagnostic scan with a genuine Mazda scan tool, regardless of whether a warning light or malfunction indicator is illuminated or not.”
The statement notes that pre-repair scans help identify diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) or system malfunctions that may not be immediately visible.
“This allows repairers to develop accurate repair estimates and plan for necessary procedures prior to beginning work,” the statement says.
It adds that post-repair scans confirm that all systems are operating correctly, are properly calibrated, and are free of DTCs once repairs are complete.
“Mazda is committed to customer safety and expects all collision repair professionals to adhere to these scanning guidelines to ensure safe and high-quality repairs,” the statement says.
Position statements and other collision repair information are available at OEM1stop.com.
Among several new position statements recently released by GM, one requires that all of its vehicles be pre- and post-scanned.
A pre-scan is necessary to assess for collision damage during estimation, and post-scans verify that the faults have been repaired and new faults have not been introduced during repairs, the GM statement says.
About 40% of shops that participated in a recent “Who Pays for What?” survey say they’ve never itemized time spent researching DTCs on invoices, according to the results.
This number is down from 50% in 2020, according to the survey results.
Of those who did itemize the time, 21% said they are “always” or “most of the time” paid for the charge by the largest eight insurers, and 46% said they are paid “some of the time.”
Diagnostic time is becoming an increasingly significant portion of collision repair work, according to Collision Advice Owner Mike Anderson, who conducts the surveys in partnership with CRASH Network.
The survey also found that 92% of those who negotiated for a pre-repair scan were paid by the top insurers.
Twenty-eight percent were paid “always” or “most of the time” for in-process scans, and 93% were paid “always” or “most of the time” for post-repair scans.
Images
Featured image: The first-generation, second-generation, and third-generation of the Mazda CX-5. (Provided by Mazda)