AGRSS® Standards Committee chair Bob Beranek of Automotive Glass Consultants participated in a panel during Auto Glass Week on industry standards and offered an update on the status of the Standard.

“There have only been a few changes to the Standard over the last decade,” said Beranek, in discussing some pending changes to the document. He said the AGRSS® Standards ommittee has made several recent changes and, after a ballot by the committee, soon will submit the revised Standard to ANSI.

Among the changes one related to retention and adhesive systems. While the original standard required that lot numbers and expiration dates be printed on appropriate products, the revision will provide that technicians only use systems that are labeled accordingly.

One change that generated a good deal of discussion is one that will require auto glass shops in compliance with the Standard to notify customers of safe drive-away times both before and after an installation is complete.

“We added this to the Standard to be sure the customer is aware of drive-away time before the job even starts,” said Beranek.

Several attendees questioned who should be notifying the customer and how it can be documented.

“A good idea would be to have a script or something like that to remind [CSRs] to say this,” Beranek added. “ … Our goal is to make sure the customer is aware of the true drive-away time before the job is done.”

Another change is related to training; the new Standard includes a provision that anyone related to the installation of auto glass at a company be trained to the Standard.

AGRSS® Education Committee co-chair Dale Malcolm of Dow Automotive spoke out from the audience, and also reminded shop owners that all technicians should be given a copy of the Standard as well.

“You’ve got to give them a copy of it and encourage them to read it and teach them what it means,” he said.

Beranek said he is hopeful that ANSI will accept the new Standard by the end of the year.