GM, Ford active safety engineers to speak during SCRS OEM Summit at SEMA Show
At the SEMA Show next month, active safety engineers from General Motors and Ford will provide a look behind the engineering decisions that influence vehicle safety before, during, and after a collision.
They’ll speak during the second session of the Society of Collision Repair Specialists’ (SCRS) 2026 OEM Collision Repair Technology Summit, titled “Engineering the Safety Benefit: From Requirements to Real-World Performance,” Thursday, Nov. 5, from 2–3 p.m.
It will follow an earlier session featuring National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Deputy Administrator Lee White from 12:30–1:30 p.m. White will examine vehicle safety priorities and the agency’s role in advancing safety on U.S. roadways.
To register for all three OEM Summit sessions, visit here.
An SCRS RDE Full Series Pass provides access to Tuesday and Wednesday RDE sessions, the IDEAS Collide Showcase, Thursday’s OEM Collision Repair Technology Summit, and the SCRS Afterparty.
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“This second session will move from those broader safety objectives into the vehicle itself, examining how automakers translate requirements and safety goals into technologies designed to produce measurable real-world benefits,” an SCRS press release states. “The afternoon will then progress to the collision repair environment, exploring how those engineered capabilities are preserved and restored after a vehicle has been damaged.”
The second session will bring together engineers who are responsible for developing, evaluating, and measuring advanced vehicle safety systems. Attendees will learn about the engineering decisions that influence vehicle safety.
Panelists include Michael Carpenter, General Motors Active Safety and Global Vehicle Performance owner; Jameson Collins, General Motors Active Safety and staff product manager; and Jeremy Nelson, Ford Motor Co. ADAS application systems engineer.
Carpenter works within GM Global Product Safety, Systems, and Certification on ADAS technology and performance strategies, new technology development, implementation of regulatory and consumer metric requirements, ADAS field effectiveness and safety benefits, and industry collaboration on standards and test-method development.
Collins leads product strategy, roadmap development, and delivery for GM’s Active Safety features, translating customer needs, competitive insights, and regulatory requirements into technologies intended to improve safety and the driving experience.
Nelson focuses on the development, release, integration, and servicing of advanced driver assistance system domain controllers. He supports vehicle production and development milestones while troubleshooting ADAS components and working across engineering, quality, and product development teams to ensure systems perform safely and as intended.
The discussion will be moderated by Jake Rodenroth, automotive industry executive, and will move beyond what ADAS features do to examine why they exist, how their intended performance is established, and how their effectiveness is evaluated. This will include what it means when a safety system is absent, disabled, damaged, or operating outside its intended parameters.
The release states: “That progression leads directly to a fundamental question for collision repair professionals: If a vehicle entered a collision with a measurable safety capability, how can the repairer know that capability has been restored?”
The panel will also explore ADAS feature development, real-world effectiveness, crash avoidance and mitigation, implications of inoperable systems, verification of safety performance, and the potential for system degradation.
The 2026 OEM Collision Repair Technology Summit is part of SCRS’ Repairer Driven Education (RDE) program at the SEMA Show.
“The Summit brings collision repair professionals together with automakers, engineers, regulators, and other subject-matter experts to examine emerging technologies and their implications for safe and complete vehicle repair,” the release states.
During the first session, White will present on the agency’s current vehicle and roadway safety priorities, emerging transportation technologies, data-driven research, and the federal government’s work with the industry to reduce fatalities and serious injuries, an SCRS release states.
Following White’s presentation, he will sit down with Aaron Schulenburg, SCRS executive director, for a one-on-one conversation exploring the intersection between federal safety objectives, automotive innovation, and the collision repair industry’s role in preserving vehicle safety throughout its service life.
NHTSA sits at the center of many discussions that impact the collision repair industry.
During a July Collision Industry Conference meeting, Schulenburg discussed NHTSA’s investigation into counterfeit airbags with Teena Bohi, an Automotive Anti-Counterfeiting Council (A2C2) Board member.
In April, NHTSA announced a ban on one type of counterfeit airbag part. Before the ban, it also issued an “urgent” industry alert specifically asking the auto repair industry to look for dangerous airbag inflators.
Repair procedures are impacted by NHTSA-mandated vehicle safety technology. This includes mandated backup cameras in all new vehicles under 10,000 pounds as of May 2018.
NHTSA also has a final rule that mandates automatic emergency braking (AEB) in pedestrian vehicles by September 2029.
However, NHTSA also announced it paused the rule to give the Trump administration time to review it following pushback and a lawsuit filed by the Alliance of Automotive Innovation (Auto Innovators).
Additional information about SCRS and RDE can be found at www.scrs.come/rde
For more information about SCRS or to join as a member, visit www.scrs.com, call 877-841-0660, or email [email protected]
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