Make the Commitment to Safety Inspections
by Ken Miller, AASP/NJ President
Since I regularly kick the hornets’ nest with this topic on my social media channels, I thought I would bring the conversation here for those who do not follow me.
The issue is safety inspections. Nearly every major vehicle manufacturer requires post-collision safety inspections whenever a vehicle has been involved in a crash. These inspections are written directly into the OEM procedures, often scattered in various sections or placed deep within the airbag, restraint and occupant protection sections of the repair manual. They exist to verify whether the vehicle’s critical safety systems were compromised during impact. These inspections determine whether the vehicle will protect its occupants in the next collision. Despite that, the vast majority of shops are not performing them, and some insurers refuse to reimburse for these inspections. In my opinion, that combination has created one of the most overlooked safety failures in modern collision repair.
I have my own view about why these inspections have not been adopted, and it is based on years of watching how repairs unfold in the real world. First, the inspections are complicated, time-consuming and require a skilled technician who can completely dismantle the interior of a vehicle and put it back together without any issues. We are not talking about a quick look at a seat belt or a simple diagnostic scan. A proper safety inspection requires detailed examination of restraint components, seat frames, anchors, mounts, sensors, wiring harnesses, steering and suspension components, occupant detection systems, airbag assemblies and everything else involved in crash protection. It can take hours. Sometimes, it can take days. That level of work disrupts production flow in a shop that is already buried in cycle time expectations.
Second, the procedures themselves are difficult to locate. Many repairers simply do not know they exist, nor do they have the time to search for them. They are rarely found under familiar categories like structural repair or mechanical operations. Instead, they are embedded in sections of the manual that technicians may only visit when replacing a specific airbag or diagnosing a restraint system fault. Identifying the full list of inspection steps often requires searching through multiple pages, cross-referencing different sections and carefully reading language that many shops have never taken the time to explore. When you combine that with a fast-paced environment, the inspections are often dismissed before they are ever considered.
Third, there is a perception among some repairers that these inspections are too invasive or unnecessary. It is common to hear statements like “the vehicle did not get hit hard enough” or “nothing appears damaged.” That mindset comes from decades of repairing vehicles where crash energy transfer was simpler and safety systems were less integrated. Modern vehicles do not behave that way. Seat frames and belt anchors can shift or twist slightly out of position. Airbags can initiate but not fully deploy. Sensors can exceed tolerance levels without showing any visual clue. A vehicle can look fine and display no DTCs and still be unsafe. Without the manufacturer’s inspection routine, there is no way to know.
Fourth, insurer reimbursement has played a role. Many carriers refuse to pay for these inspections. Some claim they are not necessary. Others believe they fall outside the scope of what should be charged. Inspections slow down production and increase severity, so they do not fit neatly into insurer cost containment goals. A shop already fighting for nearly every operation looks at the situation and decides the battle is not worth it. That reluctance grows when the shop itself does not fully believe in the inspection process or does not understand the safety implications behind it. The end result is predictable. Inspections that should be performed are never even added to the repair plan.
Finally, cycle time pressure has created a culture where anything that slows down the repair is viewed as a liability. A true safety inspection can add one to three days to a repair. That affects scheduling, rental days, insurer scorecards and customer expectations. Therefore, a repairer may think the easiest way to keep everything on track is to avoid the inspection entirely. In my opinion, this is one of the most damaging habits our industry has developed, and it will only get worse as vehicles become more complex.
The truth is that none of these reasons justify skipping a required safety inspection. Manufacturers call for them because modern vehicles are engineered around a network of components that work together to protect occupants. If these components have been compromised, the vehicle cannot perform as designed in the next collision. When a shop completes a repair without performing the OEM inspection, the shop is assuming responsibility for a safety system it never verified. Insurers will not be the ones answering for a restraint system failure. The liability always sits with the repairer.
The industry needs to be honest about this. Shops cannot return vehicles to the public with unverified safety components and believe that a structural or cosmetic repair alone is enough. Insurers cannot claim to prioritize safe repairs while refusing reimbursement for the steps that determine whether the restraint system will work in a second crash. Regulators cannot continue to rely on outdated assumptions about repair processes while vehicles become more advanced every year. Somewhere along the way, the basics of occupant protection were overshadowed by cycle time and cost control.
What is missing is a broader commitment across the industry to treat safety inspections with the importance they deserve. The manufacturers have already provided the roadmap. It is now up to us to follow it. If we expect consumers to trust that their vehicles are safe when they leave our facilities, we must begin verifying the systems that make them safe. Anything less leaves too much to chance.
Want more? Check out the December 2025 issue of New Jersey Automotive!