CIC panel: Safety inspections remain largest industry friction point

Eighty-five percent of Collision Industry Conference (CIC) meeting attendees answered that safety inspections are typically required following any collision, yet the industry still faces trouble getting reimbursed by insurance for the procedures. 

“I continue to hear from people around the industry that this might be the single largest friction point in the collision industry today,” said Bud Center, I-CAR director of technical products and curriculum, during a Talent Pool & Education CIC panel held July 22 in Chicago. 

Mike Anderson, Collision Advice co-owner, said that every OEM manufacturer has procedures in their electric service manuals (ESM) that state that inspections need to be done when a vehicle is in a collision. He said this could include inspections of seatbelts, steering columns, and airbags. 

“Some OEMs give pretty clear definitions as to when this needs to be done; for example, this is a front-end collision, side or rear, etc.; other OEMs are a lot more general,” Anderson said. 

Anderson said he’s looked at hundreds, if not thousands, of documents related to safety inspections and he’s seen examples of collapsed steering columns, partially deployed airbags, and buckled seatbelt mountings that had no diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) or lights on the dash indicating a repair is needed. 

Nader Akbari, of Central Florida Paint and Body, said physical mechanical components often don’t show a DTC. 

“There have been quite a few examples that we have had in the shop where the steering column has collapsed, and it just does not show up on a DTC,” Akbari said. “That is why it is important to physically inspect those.” 

Gerry Rossenbarker, of Mohawk Collision Center, said he sees a lot of seatbelt deployments in passenger seats that don’t trigger a DTC. He said if the passenger is not sitting in the standard position, it can damage the pillars at the mounting. 

Anderson pointed to an inspection that found an airbag partially deployed and buckling at the roof mounting location because wind jerked a car door open. He said the incident also didn’t trigger DTC or dash lights. 

Lynn Rogers, Stellantis advance service body/collision lead, said there can always be unseen damage or secondary damage that could affect the vehicle. He said this is why Stellantis asks for post-collision safety inspections. 

“The focus is always the safety of our consumers,” Rogers said. 

Safety inspections can be time-consuming for repair shops. 

Rossenbarker said a full set of inspections on a GM vehicle could take up to 20 to 22 hours of physical work. 

“It is intimidating for the average shop to get involved, and I think that is where some of the problems lie; it is a heavy lift,” Rossenbarker said. “You need a qualified technician to do it, understand it, document it. I think it is an intimidating thing for a shop, especially if they do a few of these and don’t find anything.” 

Once a technician finds something, such as a collapsed column or partially deployed airbag, it can become an “ah-hah moment,” Rossenbarker said. 

Akbari said some shops are charging insurance for what they call “seatbelt inspections,” but they aren’t doing the full procedure. 

“They do a very basic inspection, and the carriers are willing to pay that because of the overall cost,” Akbari said. “It creates a challenge for shops who are doing it properly.” 

Anderson said that the industry is minimizing the importance of safety inspections. He said there has been recent focus on ADAS calibrations, but safety inspections are just as, if not more important. 

“At the end of the day, the OEM says it needs to be done,” Anderson said. “At the end of the day, the insurance company doesn’t want to pay for it. The shop is stuck in the middle. Nobody wants to identify the shop. It is just wrong; it is wrong on every level.” 

If a shop is found liable for not following OEM procedures, it could be sued and lose everything, Anderson added. 

Roger Wright, of Vector Squared, previously held multiple roles in the insurance industry. He said insurers have trouble with the definition of “collision.” 

“I hit my washing machine, and I put a dent in my bumper,” Wright said theoretically. “Technically, there are all kinds of ADAS situations that require inspections, but does it now require you bring the dashboards out, the steering column out, and the airbags out?” 

Yet, Wright pointed out that shops are liable for the vehicle and that can apply to prior repairs. 

“You don’t know if that car that is in your shop is the second, third or fourth repair on it,” Wright said. “Sometimes it’s not the actual crash that it is there for. You don’t know what the history is, but it is very scary for the shop to be exposed to that because once you touch it, you own it.”

He pointed to counterfeit airbags as a concern that safety inspections can find. Another discussion at CIC dove into concerns about deadly airbags and how safety inspections can help find them. 

“I would like to find a way to have more documentation on what has happened on a car,” Wright said. 

Gerry Poirier, of Vector Squared, also spent many years in the insurance industry. He added that insurance companies are concerned about paying for the cost of 22 hours of work without a better definition of “collision.” 

OEMs should be looking to their certified shops for data to provide to insurance companies, he said. 

Anderson said he thinks OEMs could help by making information on safety inspections more easily accessible. He said information can contradict itself in places, such as the owner’s manual and ESMs. 

“It depends on what system you are using,” Anderson said. “There’s not going to be a section that just says safety inspections. You may have to go to the steering column or the repair section. I think I-CAR could help in building some education.” 

A majority of shops doing safety inspections aren’t doing them correctly, Anderson said. He gave an example of shops measuring the steering column the wrong way. 

Rossenbarker said he’d like to see technology added to vehicles that could potentially better determine if a safety inspection is needed.

“We are doing these [safety inspections] because we have to,” Rossenbarker said. “I would prefer not to go that in-depth.” 

Vehicles today can drive themselves and communicate with each other, he said. 

“We certainly should be able to tell if a column has collapsed with all the technology built into the vehicle, without having to take it out, disassemble the dash and have to measure it,” Rossenbarker said.

Akbari said that everyone needs to come to the table on the issue, including the collision industry, OEMs, and insurance companies. 

“I feel like our industry has become very competitive and our insurers really don’t come to the table to have these discussions,” Akbari said. 

His shop started holding in-house clinics with insurance companies to help educate everybody about safety inspections. 

“When we started doing this a few years ago, insurers were coming by and listening; that has just deteriorated,” Akbari said. “It is critical that we have an opportunity for shops, OEMs and insurers to be in the same room and really talk about this.” 

Akbari added he’s shown insurance companies that they’ve found one manufacturer that had a collapsed steering column in 80% of all inspections. 

One insurance company did its own internal inspection and said it only found one or two failed, he said. 

One or two failures is still important, Akbari said.

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The Collision Industry Conference Talent Pool & Education Committee panel discusses safety inspections July 22, 2026, in Chicago.