Sessions Focus on Evolving Technology, Building Relationships with Automakers…

PDR Nation once again attended Mobile Tech Expo in Orlando, Florida. Education Day is always an important day at MTE. It is the largest gathering of PDR techs all year and gives us a chance to help get information and education out into the industry.

Our first Education Day class was presented by PDR Nation’s David Pinto. The session was titled “What is ADAS?” and focused on continued education with regard to Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. As this safety technology becomes more common, with Honda, Toyota and other automakers including these systems as standard safety equipment in 2019 models—and with 20 manufacturers having committed to do the same by 2022—it is imperative that the PDR techs of today understand the functions and to be able to identify what systems represent when performing the initial estimate and plan for repair.

During the session, Pinto noted that certain systems may need to be sent to a dealership for recalibration if they are disconnected or sensors are involved in the damaged area. The cars of today are much more complex in engineering and technology than cars of even three to four years ago. We must keep up with the changes or risk putting our customers’ safety at risk should a safety feature they depend on to work properly malfunctions or does not work as intended.

PDR Nation’s David Pinto presented a seminar on the topic of “What is ADAS?” at this year’s Mobile Tech Expo.

PDR Nation also hosted an open discussion on the importance of building relationships between the OEMs and the PDR industry. We feel it is an important relationship, as not only is the technology in safety changing in the vehicles, but also the materials and construction. It is important for the OEMs to provide guidelines for proper repair procedures as well, as we can help guide them to the capabilities of what our industry techs are repairing.

Our tools and techniques have evolved a lot in the last five to10 years, and it is in both of our interests to understand and have access to the material information we are working on. Through the attendance of PDR Nation at events like the SEMA Show, the Collision Industry Conference and the Northeast Show, we have begun to form some relationships, but feel we have a long way to go.

There was also a practical class hosted by Gary Hoesing titled “Simplifying R & I.” He highlighted some of the more common and stubborn clips and tools that the PDR tech runs across and explained the best methods to perform R and I with the motto “do no harm.”  This was an informative class for PDR techs who do not come from a body shop background and may not be familiar with R and I techniques.

PDR Industry Lends a Helping Hand

Every year since 2014, PDR Nation has hosted the PDR Nation Egles-Cross fundraiser, first started by Ryan Hampton. This fundraiser is a building block of PDR Nation’s nonprofit status. The annual tool raffle is only made possible by the generous donations of all the tool companies, whose contributions are then raffled off during the Mobile Tech Expo to raise money for a PDR family in need.

This year’s recipient was the family of fallen tech Brian Riley who passed away in December and left behind a wife and four children. His long-term illness had drained the family funds to a point that there was a GoFundMe® set up just to pay the funeral costs. The PDR Nation raffle raised $2,770, which was sent to Dee Dixon-Riley, who expressed her gratitude to all who helped and participated.

Egles-Cross also made donations to two other techs who experienced tragedies late in the year.

The Elges-Cross fund is open to donations all year long, so we can help when help is needed. PDR Nation has also partnered with the Amazon Smiles program, to which Amazon will donate a small portion of all purchases made by anyone who chooses PDR Nation as their nonprofit designee in the program. Sign up with Amazon Smiles, and choose PDR Nation!

PDR techs swarmed the PDR Nation booth during the association’s always-popular tool raffle in support of the PDR Nation Egles-Cross fundraiser. The annual tool raffle is made possible by the generous donations of the many tool companies, whose contributions are then raffled off to raise money for a PDR family in need.