AASP/NJ Repair Community Learns Importance of Safety Inspections

by Alana Quartuccio

Vehicle safety inspections are a critical component of collision repair with the potential for severe consequences if not taken seriously.

To shed light on this subject of growing importance, AASP/NJ presented “Vehicle Safety Inspections: A Shop Perspective” at Dashlight Solutions (Wall Township) to the collision repair community last month. Led by Mike Whitney and Rob Kirk of Dashlight Solutions, along with Anthony McNee of Ultimate Collision (Edison) and sponsored by Carmic.ai, the seminar set out to educate repair professionals about safety inspection procedures, documentation requirements and related key areas of concerns. Attendees also received a certificate upon course completion to be used toward the training requirement of 2026 NJ-MVC Auto Body License renewal.

The presenters stressed the importance of the need for the industry to embrace OEM required safety inspections.

Kirk equated it to pre- and post-scanning, a required procedure not widely accepted at one point in time. “Years ago, not everyone was pre- and post-scanning vehicles. Now, it’s the norm. It is what we do, as it’s part of the process and it’s agreed upon no matter who you talk to. We want to see safety inspections become part of the process.”

Showing various examples of damaged parts including partially-deployed airbags and bent or collapsed steering columns, Whitney and Kirk spoke of the dangerous consequences of not uncovering these safety threats if one were to skip the inspection process. Uncovering a collapsed steering column is more common than one would expect according to Kirk, who admitted to seeing more than a handful of them. “We’ve seen these more from rear collisions rather than frontal,” Whitney pointed out.

“These procedures have made us open our eyes and look at things deeper than we have in the past,” Kirk stated.

Every OEM has unique and specific inspection procedures. For example, Nissan requires repairers to perform specific braking operations while driving the vehicle in order to test the seat belt locking mechanisms. “Nissan asks you to brake aggressively five times while driving 30 miles per hour to get the seat belt to lock,” Whitney explained.

If something appears to be deformed, it most likely is. Kirk showed the audience a new airbag with a small bulge on its cover – an indication of deformity. “It’s not up to us to define a deformity,” he explained. “If it’s not straight the way it’s supposed to be, it’s deformed.”

“If you find yourself questioning how something is supposed to look, it’s probably not right,” Whitney added.

McNee provided insight into estimating for safety inspections, recommending keeping the procedure down to one line on the estimate so it’s not seen as a multi-step process. He’s also found success in creating a basic checklist. “I make a checklist for myself so I can visually go down the list. It makes it pretty simple. Jumping around between the different things you need to inspect could lead one to miss something.”

Kirk and Whitney also showed the audience examples of measuring tools and gauges used in the inspection process, explaining that ultimately, research is the key behind safety inspections.

“Every single procedure is different,” Kirk emphasized. “Don’t assume the last group of inspections you did will be the same as the next. Always look up the procedures. Don’t print them out and expect to be able to use them another time.”

Circling back to his point about pre- and post-scanning, Kirk insisted, “Safety inspections have to be done. We know it needs to be done. The things you’ll find will open your eyes and you’ll ask yourself why you didn’t do this earlier.”

AASP/NJ thanks Dashlight Solutions and Ultimate Collision for their help in facilitating this event, and Carmic.ai for their generosity as meeting sponsor. Coming up next on AASP/NJ’s schedule of events is its 2026 annual meeting, happening Wednesday, October 21 at Gran Centurions in Clark, NJ. To register, visit aaspnj.org.

Want more? Check out the October 2026 issue of New Jersey Automotive!