SEMA News—December 2015

By Mike Imlay

Celebrating Leadership

Highlights From SEMA’s Annual Installation Gala

SEMA members and industry leaders filled the ballroom of the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles for the recent SEMA Installation Gala, celebrating new Board of Directors and council members and Hall of Fame inductees.

Each year, the SEMA Installation Gala gathers the industry together to thank outgoing SEMA Board of Directors members, install newly elected leaders and celebrate the association’s latest Hall of Fame inductees. In addition, daytime events leading up to the banquet include high-level Board and council discussions along with a heavy dose of fundraising for SEMA Cares, the association’s charity initiative. This year, the historic Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles played host to the July 24 events, with the evening’s gala emceed by the legendary “Voice of the NHRA,” Dave McClelland.

With SEMA members representing every segment of the industry filling the banquet hall that night, SEMA President and CEO Chris Kersting took the stage to officially recognize outgoing and newly elected members of the SEMA Board of Directors. Susan Carpenter of JR Products, Laurel Dasher of Powerteq and Dan Kahn of Kahn Media Inc. are the newest members elected to the SEMA Board. In addition to the new volunteers, Jim Bingham of Winner’s Circle Speed & Custom Inc. and Nick Gramelspacher of Meyer Distributing were re-elected, and Wade Kawasaki of the Coker Group was chosen as SEMA’s chairman-elect. (Meet the entire SEMA Board on page 28 in this issue.)

“The SEMA Installation Gala is always a night filled with excitement for our industry and appreciation for the dedication, service and volunteerism of our association members who remain at the heart of its passion and drive,” said Kersting. “It’s a great celebration of leadership and, just as importantly, the enthusiasm we all share for the entire industry’s ongoing growth
and accomplishments.”

Among the evening’s highlights, Joel Ayres, Jim Bingham and Dennis Gage received SEMA’s highest honor with their formal induction into the elite SEMA Hall of Fame. Truly accomplished professionals, each has helped to shape and inspire the $33-billion automotive specialty-equipment market in distinctive ways.

Leaders of SEMA’s industry councils gathered before the gala evening to network, identify common industry priorities and chart future initiatives.	(Left to right) SEMA President and CEO Chris Kersting with SEMA Chairman-Elect Wade Kawasaki, Immediate Past Chairman Nate Shelton and current Chairman of the Board Doug Evans.
Gala attendees cheered their favorite cars in the annual SEMA Cares Pinewood Drag Races, which raised much-appreciated funds for association-supported charities.	Joel Ayres, executive director, Aftermarket Foundation.
Jim Bingham, president and CEO, Winner’s Circle Speed and Custom.	Dennis Gage, host of “My Classic Car.”

Along with his contributions in the truck industry and the role he played in merging the Truck Cap Industry Association (now known as the Light Truck & Accessory Alliance, TORA) with SEMA, Ayres has long been committed to giving back to those in need, helping to found SEMA Cares nearly 10 years ago. The nonprofit group unites SEMA’s industry fundraising efforts and provides member businesses with a range of ways to give to charities.

To date, SEMA Cares has raised more than $1 million for a variety of causes. Most recently, Ayres was also named the first-ever executive director of the Aftermarket Foundation, where he plays a key role in assisting automotive aftermarket individuals who, because of catastrophic illness or accident, have fallen onto hard times.

Bingham began his career in 1968 at Lang Auto Parts. As a farm boy just breaking into business, he was the store’s youngest counter guy, but he proved to be a quick learner. After just two years, he founded Winner’s Circle Speed and Custom Inc., which has since grown to include three retail locations, wholesale distribution under the name 1st Performance Warehouse, and two major trade events.

In addition to serving on the SEMA Board of Directors, Bingham has been a board member for the Performance Warehouse Association and is an original owner of Route 66 Raceway. He has also been a major promoter of youth involvement in the aftermarket and motorsports through Hot Rodders of Tomorrow.

Though interested in cars at an early age, Gage’s career in the industry took a more circuitous route. After graduating college with degrees in physics and chemistry, he started a country rock band, touring for two years before returning to graduate school and later joining Proctor & Gamble, where he helped develop the Pringles potato chip. Next, he moved on to Bristol-Myers Squibb, leading the development of Boost energy drinks and undertaking a 20-city media tour to promote the brand. His unique personna caught on, and in the mid-’90s, he became the host of “My Classic Car.” Now in its 20th season, the TV program has reached nearly 90 million households.

Dedicated to the industry, Gage has served on several SEMA committees, including three terms on the Board of Directors and the select committee of the Automotive Restoration Market Organization.

Throughout the day of the gala, onlookers cheered their favorite racers in the annual SEMA Cares Pinewood Drag Races, which featured carefully crafted pinewood race cars competing in several classes, including Stock, Build-It-For-Me (BIFM) and Unlimited. In what has become a yearly tradition, children living at Childhelp facilities and campers attending Victory Junction built the vehicles for the BIFM class, and donors sponsored their race cars for $95, with proceeds going to SEMA Cares. Of course, there were also the traditional Hot Rod Industry Alliance Builder’s Challenge and SEMA Council Cup grudge matches, which were waged during Friday’s cocktail reception and into the gala itself.

When the dust finally settled, the leaderboard read as follows below:

• First Place, SEMA Builder’s Class, Unlimited: Mitch Williams, Restoration Parts Unlimited Inc.
• First Place, Stock: Kathryn Reinhardt, Magnaflow
• Second Place, Stock: Wade Kawasaki, Coker Group
• Third Place, Stock: Michael Timmons, BedRug Inc.
• First Place, Unlimited: Mitch Williams, Restoration Parts Unlimited Inc.
• Second Place, Unlimited: Mitch Williams, Restoration Parts Unlimited Inc.
• First Place, Sponsor a Child (BIFM): Kyle Tucker, Detroit Speed Inc.
• Second Place, Sponsor a Child (BIFM): Kevin McGowan, Auto Trim Restyling
• Third Place, Sponsor a Child (BIFM): Mike Spagnola, SEMA Garage
• People’s Choice Award: Mike Spagnola, SEMA Garage

SEMA News—December 2015

By Mike Imlay

Celebrating Leadership

Highlights From SEMA’s Annual Installation Gala

SEMA members and industry leaders filled the ballroom of the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles for the recent SEMA Installation Gala, celebrating new Board of Directors and council members and Hall of Fame inductees.

Each year, the SEMA Installation Gala gathers the industry together to thank outgoing SEMA Board of Directors members, install newly elected leaders and celebrate the association’s latest Hall of Fame inductees. In addition, daytime events leading up to the banquet include high-level Board and council discussions along with a heavy dose of fundraising for SEMA Cares, the association’s charity initiative. This year, the historic Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles played host to the July 24 events, with the evening’s gala emceed by the legendary “Voice of the NHRA,” Dave McClelland.

With SEMA members representing every segment of the industry filling the banquet hall that night, SEMA President and CEO Chris Kersting took the stage to officially recognize outgoing and newly elected members of the SEMA Board of Directors. Susan Carpenter of JR Products, Laurel Dasher of Powerteq and Dan Kahn of Kahn Media Inc. are the newest members elected to the SEMA Board. In addition to the new volunteers, Jim Bingham of Winner’s Circle Speed & Custom Inc. and Nick Gramelspacher of Meyer Distributing were re-elected, and Wade Kawasaki of the Coker Group was chosen as SEMA’s chairman-elect. (Meet the entire SEMA Board on page 28 in this issue.)

“The SEMA Installation Gala is always a night filled with excitement for our industry and appreciation for the dedication, service and volunteerism of our association members who remain at the heart of its passion and drive,” said Kersting. “It’s a great celebration of leadership and, just as importantly, the enthusiasm we all share for the entire industry’s ongoing growth
and accomplishments.”

Among the evening’s highlights, Joel Ayres, Jim Bingham and Dennis Gage received SEMA’s highest honor with their formal induction into the elite SEMA Hall of Fame. Truly accomplished professionals, each has helped to shape and inspire the $33-billion automotive specialty-equipment market in distinctive ways.

Leaders of SEMA’s industry councils gathered before the gala evening to network, identify common industry priorities and chart future initiatives.	(Left to right) SEMA President and CEO Chris Kersting with SEMA Chairman-Elect Wade Kawasaki, Immediate Past Chairman Nate Shelton and current Chairman of the Board Doug Evans.
Gala attendees cheered their favorite cars in the annual SEMA Cares Pinewood Drag Races, which raised much-appreciated funds for association-supported charities.	Joel Ayres, executive director, Aftermarket Foundation.
Jim Bingham, president and CEO, Winner’s Circle Speed and Custom.	Dennis Gage, host of “My Classic Car.”

Along with his contributions in the truck industry and the role he played in merging the Truck Cap Industry Association (now known as the Light Truck & Accessory Alliance, TORA) with SEMA, Ayres has long been committed to giving back to those in need, helping to found SEMA Cares nearly 10 years ago. The nonprofit group unites SEMA’s industry fundraising efforts and provides member businesses with a range of ways to give to charities.

To date, SEMA Cares has raised more than $1 million for a variety of causes. Most recently, Ayres was also named the first-ever executive director of the Aftermarket Foundation, where he plays a key role in assisting automotive aftermarket individuals who, because of catastrophic illness or accident, have fallen onto hard times.

Bingham began his career in 1968 at Lang Auto Parts. As a farm boy just breaking into business, he was the store’s youngest counter guy, but he proved to be a quick learner. After just two years, he founded Winner’s Circle Speed and Custom Inc., which has since grown to include three retail locations, wholesale distribution under the name 1st Performance Warehouse, and two major trade events.

In addition to serving on the SEMA Board of Directors, Bingham has been a board member for the Performance Warehouse Association and is an original owner of Route 66 Raceway. He has also been a major promoter of youth involvement in the aftermarket and motorsports through Hot Rodders of Tomorrow.

Though interested in cars at an early age, Gage’s career in the industry took a more circuitous route. After graduating college with degrees in physics and chemistry, he started a country rock band, touring for two years before returning to graduate school and later joining Proctor & Gamble, where he helped develop the Pringles potato chip. Next, he moved on to Bristol-Myers Squibb, leading the development of Boost energy drinks and undertaking a 20-city media tour to promote the brand. His unique personna caught on, and in the mid-’90s, he became the host of “My Classic Car.” Now in its 20th season, the TV program has reached nearly 90 million households.

Dedicated to the industry, Gage has served on several SEMA committees, including three terms on the Board of Directors and the select committee of the Automotive Restoration Market Organization.

Throughout the day of the gala, onlookers cheered their favorite racers in the annual SEMA Cares Pinewood Drag Races, which featured carefully crafted pinewood race cars competing in several classes, including Stock, Build-It-For-Me (BIFM) and Unlimited. In what has become a yearly tradition, children living at Childhelp facilities and campers attending Victory Junction built the vehicles for the BIFM class, and donors sponsored their race cars for $95, with proceeds going to SEMA Cares. Of course, there were also the traditional Hot Rod Industry Alliance Builder’s Challenge and SEMA Council Cup grudge matches, which were waged during Friday’s cocktail reception and into the gala itself.

When the dust finally settled, the leaderboard read as follows below:

• First Place, SEMA Builder’s Class, Unlimited: Mitch Williams, Restoration Parts Unlimited Inc.
• First Place, Stock: Kathryn Reinhardt, Magnaflow
• Second Place, Stock: Wade Kawasaki, Coker Group
• Third Place, Stock: Michael Timmons, BedRug Inc.
• First Place, Unlimited: Mitch Williams, Restoration Parts Unlimited Inc.
• Second Place, Unlimited: Mitch Williams, Restoration Parts Unlimited Inc.
• First Place, Sponsor a Child (BIFM): Kyle Tucker, Detroit Speed Inc.
• Second Place, Sponsor a Child (BIFM): Kevin McGowan, Auto Trim Restyling
• Third Place, Sponsor a Child (BIFM): Mike Spagnola, SEMA Garage
• People’s Choice Award: Mike Spagnola, SEMA Garage

SEMA News—December 2015

By Mike Imlay

Celebrating Leadership

Highlights From SEMA’s Annual Installation Gala

SEMA members and industry leaders filled the ballroom of the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles for the recent SEMA Installation Gala, celebrating new Board of Directors and council members and Hall of Fame inductees.

Each year, the SEMA Installation Gala gathers the industry together to thank outgoing SEMA Board of Directors members, install newly elected leaders and celebrate the association’s latest Hall of Fame inductees. In addition, daytime events leading up to the banquet include high-level Board and council discussions along with a heavy dose of fundraising for SEMA Cares, the association’s charity initiative. This year, the historic Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles played host to the July 24 events, with the evening’s gala emceed by the legendary “Voice of the NHRA,” Dave McClelland.

With SEMA members representing every segment of the industry filling the banquet hall that night, SEMA President and CEO Chris Kersting took the stage to officially recognize outgoing and newly elected members of the SEMA Board of Directors. Susan Carpenter of JR Products, Laurel Dasher of Powerteq and Dan Kahn of Kahn Media Inc. are the newest members elected to the SEMA Board. In addition to the new volunteers, Jim Bingham of Winner’s Circle Speed & Custom Inc. and Nick Gramelspacher of Meyer Distributing were re-elected, and Wade Kawasaki of the Coker Group was chosen as SEMA’s chairman-elect. (Meet the entire SEMA Board on page 28 in this issue.)

“The SEMA Installation Gala is always a night filled with excitement for our industry and appreciation for the dedication, service and volunteerism of our association members who remain at the heart of its passion and drive,” said Kersting. “It’s a great celebration of leadership and, just as importantly, the enthusiasm we all share for the entire industry’s ongoing growth
and accomplishments.”

Among the evening’s highlights, Joel Ayres, Jim Bingham and Dennis Gage received SEMA’s highest honor with their formal induction into the elite SEMA Hall of Fame. Truly accomplished professionals, each has helped to shape and inspire the $33-billion automotive specialty-equipment market in distinctive ways.

Leaders of SEMA’s industry councils gathered before the gala evening to network, identify common industry priorities and chart future initiatives.	(Left to right) SEMA President and CEO Chris Kersting with SEMA Chairman-Elect Wade Kawasaki, Immediate Past Chairman Nate Shelton and current Chairman of the Board Doug Evans.
Gala attendees cheered their favorite cars in the annual SEMA Cares Pinewood Drag Races, which raised much-appreciated funds for association-supported charities.	Joel Ayres, executive director, Aftermarket Foundation.
Jim Bingham, president and CEO, Winner’s Circle Speed and Custom.	Dennis Gage, host of “My Classic Car.”

Along with his contributions in the truck industry and the role he played in merging the Truck Cap Industry Association (now known as the Light Truck & Accessory Alliance, TORA) with SEMA, Ayres has long been committed to giving back to those in need, helping to found SEMA Cares nearly 10 years ago. The nonprofit group unites SEMA’s industry fundraising efforts and provides member businesses with a range of ways to give to charities.

To date, SEMA Cares has raised more than $1 million for a variety of causes. Most recently, Ayres was also named the first-ever executive director of the Aftermarket Foundation, where he plays a key role in assisting automotive aftermarket individuals who, because of catastrophic illness or accident, have fallen onto hard times.

Bingham began his career in 1968 at Lang Auto Parts. As a farm boy just breaking into business, he was the store’s youngest counter guy, but he proved to be a quick learner. After just two years, he founded Winner’s Circle Speed and Custom Inc., which has since grown to include three retail locations, wholesale distribution under the name 1st Performance Warehouse, and two major trade events.

In addition to serving on the SEMA Board of Directors, Bingham has been a board member for the Performance Warehouse Association and is an original owner of Route 66 Raceway. He has also been a major promoter of youth involvement in the aftermarket and motorsports through Hot Rodders of Tomorrow.

Though interested in cars at an early age, Gage’s career in the industry took a more circuitous route. After graduating college with degrees in physics and chemistry, he started a country rock band, touring for two years before returning to graduate school and later joining Proctor & Gamble, where he helped develop the Pringles potato chip. Next, he moved on to Bristol-Myers Squibb, leading the development of Boost energy drinks and undertaking a 20-city media tour to promote the brand. His unique personna caught on, and in the mid-’90s, he became the host of “My Classic Car.” Now in its 20th season, the TV program has reached nearly 90 million households.

Dedicated to the industry, Gage has served on several SEMA committees, including three terms on the Board of Directors and the select committee of the Automotive Restoration Market Organization.

Throughout the day of the gala, onlookers cheered their favorite racers in the annual SEMA Cares Pinewood Drag Races, which featured carefully crafted pinewood race cars competing in several classes, including Stock, Build-It-For-Me (BIFM) and Unlimited. In what has become a yearly tradition, children living at Childhelp facilities and campers attending Victory Junction built the vehicles for the BIFM class, and donors sponsored their race cars for $95, with proceeds going to SEMA Cares. Of course, there were also the traditional Hot Rod Industry Alliance Builder’s Challenge and SEMA Council Cup grudge matches, which were waged during Friday’s cocktail reception and into the gala itself.

When the dust finally settled, the leaderboard read as follows below:

• First Place, SEMA Builder’s Class, Unlimited: Mitch Williams, Restoration Parts Unlimited Inc.
• First Place, Stock: Kathryn Reinhardt, Magnaflow
• Second Place, Stock: Wade Kawasaki, Coker Group
• Third Place, Stock: Michael Timmons, BedRug Inc.
• First Place, Unlimited: Mitch Williams, Restoration Parts Unlimited Inc.
• Second Place, Unlimited: Mitch Williams, Restoration Parts Unlimited Inc.
• First Place, Sponsor a Child (BIFM): Kyle Tucker, Detroit Speed Inc.
• Second Place, Sponsor a Child (BIFM): Kevin McGowan, Auto Trim Restyling
• Third Place, Sponsor a Child (BIFM): Mike Spagnola, SEMA Garage
• People’s Choice Award: Mike Spagnola, SEMA Garage

SEMA News—December 2015

INDUSTRY NEWS

SPY PHOTOS

Photos courtesy SpiedBilde, Brian Williams. Reuse or reproduction without the copyright holder’s consent is prohibited.

SEMA News—December 2015

INTERNET

By Joe Dysart

Social Media Done Right

The Top Dashboards for Marketing With Social Media

Marketers looking to manage all of their social-media campaigns from a single dashboard have some good news from Forrester (www.forrester.com): The market-research firm did all the legwork for you.

Essentially, Forrester kicked the tires on all of the major social-media dashboards currently on the market and came up with a short list of those worth looking at:

• Percolate (https://percolate.com)
• Sprinklr (www.sprinklr.com)
• Spredfast (www.spredfast.com)

Overall, Forrester found that social-media dashboards make it easier for marketers to manage dozens of social employees and accounts, said Nate Elliot, lead author of “Social Relationship Platforms, Q2 2015,” the Forrester report on social-media dashboards (www.forrester.com/The+Forrester+Wave+Social+Relationship+Platforms+Q2+2015/fulltext/-/E-res120645).

“Nearly every marketer we surveyed agreed that social media dashboards save them time,” Elliot said.

And while no one tool does it all, most go a long way toward pulling together and managing virtually all the elements of a highly effective and highly interactive social-media presence. Specifically, most of the products Forrester put at the front of the pack automate the scheduling and posting of text and multimedia across a wide array of social-media networks. And most also enable a company to monitor how its brand is faring on social media—both among casual users of Facebook and other networks as well as with more engaged influencers such
as bloggers.

Dashboards in the top three are also best at helping marketers greatly automate the processing of messages, including reading, analyzing and sorting out who at the company should respond to a specific post. In addition, these “social relationship platforms” help marketers manage all of their social accounts as well as all of the employees permitted to post to those accounts. And most of the solutions can assign different permission levels to different employees and offer workflow tools for routing inbound posts to the right teams.

All told, Forrester evaluated social-media dashboards using a 41-point checklist. The company also surveyed each vendor about its product and asked for product demos.

Here’s how the top three programs stacked up, according to Forrester:

Percolate

	Shantanu Narayen, CEO of Adobe, got a ho-hum review from Forrester for his dashboard product, Adobe Social.

This package is a good bet for users looking to integrate their social marketing into much broader marketing strategies, Elliot said. The drive behind Percolate was to “build a marketing system of record that lets clients centralize their operations across all marketing channels, streamline their workflows and governance, analyze their results and optimize their marketing programs,” Elliot said.

He also said that the platform boasts best-in-class workflow and content-creation tools. Percolate also has a rather nifty “Brew” tool, which tracks custom-defined lists of media outlets and influencers that marketers are monitoring, looks for topics related to a company’s marketing themes, and then prioritizes the specific topics on which the company should publish.

On the downside, Percolate has room to improve its current offering, Elliot said.

“Its analysis, prioritization and routing of inbound posts can’t compete with what the other leaders offer,” he noted. “The tool monitors only Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It can’t analyze for sentiment and, at the time of evaluation, it couldn’t route posts automatically. The product tells marketers when posts have performed best in the past but offers no scheduling recommendations. And its global capabilities are underdeveloped for a vendor with such grand ambitions.”

Spredfast

This package is best at offering users insights and advice as they work on a social-media marketing campaign, Elliot said. Specifically, it tracks comments and questions that pop up from customers and others that a marketer is trying to engage on social media.

Moreover, as social-media marketers use the package, “it recommends popular hashtags related to their content and suggests alternative wording that might generate more interest,” Elliot said. “Clients love Spredfast’s onboarding and support and like the fact that it partners with other leading social vendors such as Brandwatch and Kenshoo rather than trying to build an end-to-end social suite.”

On the downside, Spredfast makes it tough for social-media marketers to collaborate and share ideas via the package.

“And not only do clients think Spredfast’s own measurement tools are merely average, but also the vendor does little to help marketers share their social data into third-party measurement tools,” Elliot said.

Sprinklr

“Consider Sprinklr if you have broad social needs and global ambitions,” Elliot said. “Sprinklr endeavors to offer clients every imaginable social tool—not just a full range of SRP features but also social command center displays, social ad-buying functionality and more. And anything its standard SRP can’t do, Sprinklr’s team can custom build using the product’s impressive rules engine.”

Especially strong with Sprinkler is the package’s monitoring and publishing features, Elliot added.

“But we question Sprinklr’s vision and focus,” he said. “The vendor’s recent buying spree finds it focused more on integrating a series of lackluster technologies into an end-to-end social suite than on helping marketers connect their social efforts to their broader marketing programs. And the product’s complexity—combined with its relatively poor ease of use—means that Sprinklr clients pay far more than average in services fees.”

Not surprisingly, there are also a number of middle-of-the-pack solutions on the market that could do the trick for a marketer in certain circumstances. Elliot said that these often have singular strengths, citing the following:

• Shoutlet (www.shoutlet.com): Good if you want a well-rounded tool at a good price.
• Expion (www.expion.com): Very good at customer support and measurement.
• Hootsuite (www.hootsuite.com): Offers the best content and publishing automation available.
• Falcon Social (www.falconsocial.com): The perfect tool for marketers most concerned with responding to customer comments on social media.

Elliot also found a number of also-ran products that were less impressive than the industry leaders but still helpful:

• Sprout Social (http://sproutsocial.com): A competitive tool at a great price that outperforms market leaders for ease of use and scheduling.
• Adobe Social (www.adobe.com/marketing-cloud/social-media-marketing.html): A good tool for businesses that are marketing globally on social media.
• Oracle Social Cloud (www.oracle.com/us/solutions/social/overview/index.html): Another good global tool that can analyze social-media sentiment in seven languages.
• Salesforce Social Studio (www.salesforce.com/marketing-cloud/features/social-media-marketing): A decent choice if you’re already using other Salesforce tools.

Bonus: For marketers that want to dig deeper and do extremely detailed comparisons of the strong performers, Forrester also offers a “vendor comparison tool” that enables organizations to adapt Forrester’s criteria weightings to fit their specific needs.

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan.

Email: joe@joedysart.com

Website: www.joedysart.com

By SEMA Washington, D.C., Staff

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) added two automatic emergency braking systems to its list of recommended safety features as part of its five-star New Car Assessment Program.

The so-called “Stars on Cars” label is posted on the new-car window and seeks to provide consumers with safety information when comparison shopping. The five-star rating system reflects performance tests for frontal, side and rollover crashworthiness. It also includes information on whether autos have advanced safety features, such as lane-departure and forward-collision warning systems. The emergency “imminent braking” and “dynamic braking” systems are found on many new vehicles. They sense an impending crash and apply the brakes if not in use or apply more fully if already in use in advance of an impending crash. The NHTSA does not intend to mandate the installation of the technology on all new vehicles at this time. 

For more information, contact Stuart Gosswein at stuartg@sema.org.

By SEMA Washington, D.C., Staff

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) added two automatic emergency braking systems to its list of recommended safety features as part of its five-star New Car Assessment Program.

The so-called “Stars on Cars” label is posted on the new-car window and seeks to provide consumers with safety information when comparison shopping. The five-star rating system reflects performance tests for frontal, side and rollover crashworthiness. It also includes information on whether autos have advanced safety features, such as lane-departure and forward-collision warning systems. The emergency “imminent braking” and “dynamic braking” systems are found on many new vehicles. They sense an impending crash and apply the brakes if not in use or apply more fully if already in use in advance of an impending crash. The NHTSA does not intend to mandate the installation of the technology on all new vehicles at this time. 

For more information, contact Stuart Gosswein at stuartg@sema.org.

By SEMA Washington, D.C., Staff

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) added two automatic emergency braking systems to its list of recommended safety features as part of its five-star New Car Assessment Program.

The so-called “Stars on Cars” label is posted on the new-car window and seeks to provide consumers with safety information when comparison shopping. The five-star rating system reflects performance tests for frontal, side and rollover crashworthiness. It also includes information on whether autos have advanced safety features, such as lane-departure and forward-collision warning systems. The emergency “imminent braking” and “dynamic braking” systems are found on many new vehicles. They sense an impending crash and apply the brakes if not in use or apply more fully if already in use in advance of an impending crash. The NHTSA does not intend to mandate the installation of the technology on all new vehicles at this time. 

For more information, contact Stuart Gosswein at stuartg@sema.org.

The SEMA Memorial Scholarship Fund has awarded $150,000 to 58 individuals this year. This includes 45 SEMA scholarships presented to current students, and 13 loan-forgiveness awards presented to employees of SEMA-member companies. On behalf of the industry, we offer congratulations and continued success to the following award winners. The online application for next year’s awards will be accepted November 1, 2015, through April 1, 2016.

The SEMA Memorial Scholarship Fund has awarded $150,000 to 58 individuals this year. This includes 45 SEMA scholarships presented to current students, and 13 loan-forgiveness awards presented to employees of SEMA-member companies. On behalf of the industry, we offer congratulations and continued success to the following award winners. The online application for next year’s awards will be accepted November 1, 2015, through April 1, 2016.