The widespread consumer problem of faulty and unnecessary motor vehicle repairs led to the establishment of five demonstration projects to examine the costs and benefits of performing diagnosis separate from repair. Project sites were located at Huntsville, Alabama; Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona; Washington, D. C.; Bayamon, Ponce, and San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Chattanooga, Tennessee. A total of 92,819 periodic inspections and 32,734 reinspections (after repair) were performed.
This paper summarizes the repair industry response to the projects in terms of adequacy, cost, and necessity of vehicle and subsystem repairs performed. The relationships to diagnostic information provided, duration of project operation, project location, and type of facility performing the repairs are also discussed.