Alva Review-Courier -

My dad showed me how to prop a stick between the water pump and my ear to listen for a bad bearing. Today, that squeal would show up on the on-board diagnostics computer in the form of a code, accessed by a code reader, available at any auto supply business. They even loan them!

As the number and complexity of electronic controls proliferate automobilia, the number of qualified technicians has shrunken to the point that the Labor Department reports the need for an additional 76,000 each year for the next 8 years. There are several inherent issues related to the need. Car and Driver Magazine says, “The pay may be competitive but learning the necessary skills of diagnostics and assessment requires a commitment that also calls for getting hands dirty; unappealing to today’s tech-oriented youth.”

Gary Uyematsu, national training manager at BMW of North America says, “It used to be that people would work in a lawnmower repair or tire shop, but there’s not so much of that anymore and if you worked at a gas station you changed oil and worked with cars. Now, you sell candy and chips.”

I have great respect for the “people in the pits” that keep our machines running. Even self-driving cars will need technicians, so we must get the word out that it’s not just turning wrenches: it’s very cerebral but, like teaching, if we don’t compensate adequately, they soon discover “If I can do this, I can do something else.”