How supporting quality aftermarket options like CAPA Certified parts promotes competition in the collision repair industry and benefits everyone.1

Intertek, the exclusive licensee of the CAPA program, has released a new video which explains the CAPA certification process for lighting parts.

The Certified Automotive Parts Association (CAPA), the global leader in aftermarket part certification, released a new video which explains its Vehicle Test Fit process. The video was produced by the CAPA Validator, Intertek.

The Certified Automotive Parts Association (CAPA), the global leader in aftermarket part certification, announced a new animated whiteboard video, which explains the four basic part choices consumer have when their vehicles undergo an insurance-based repair.

In 2009, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) helped to demonstrate CAPA’s new CAPA 501 Bumper Standard by crash testing two 2008 Dodge Ram 1500 pickups.  One pickup was fitted with an aftermarket bumper that meets the material, dimensional, strength, and vehicle fit requirements of CAPA’s standard.  The pickup was crashed in a 5 mph full frontal test, plus a 40 mph offset frontal test, and then compared the performance with the same model fitted with a Dodge bumper. Results for both of the pickups were nearly identical. The low-speed damage estimate came to $1,120 for each pickup. Likewise, in the high-speed test both models had similar crashworthiness measures.  “This is what we expected,” says Adrian Lund, the Institute’s president. “It shows that aftermarket parts can be reverse engineered without compromising safety. An aftermarket bumper that meets CAPA’s new standard should perform as well as the original.”

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While in the process of developing CAPA’s fifth standard the CAPA 501 Bumper Parts Standard, we have performed extensive testing on bumper parts currently in the market. This video depicts crash tests performed on energy absorbers. The first part shown in the video is a car company brand Ford Fusion 2006-09 (front), part number 6E5Z-17C882-AA. The second part shown in the video is a non-certified aftermarket part same application/year. There was no indication of the manufacturer available on the aftermarket part. Both of the parts were made of plastic material, although dissimilar.

The Test Lab that performed the Crash Test was MGA Research Corporation, Wisconsin, USA. Based on this test and several others having been performed the results clearly point to the need for an aftermarket standard and certification program. Additional information regarding the CAPA program, bumper standard and additional testing results will be released shortly.