SEMA Member News—March/April 2012
TORA Delivers to Diverse Membership
The Truck and Off-Road Alliance (TORA) offers value for virtually any company in the light-truck accessories industry. The various benefits cover product exposure, technical resources and a recently released manufacturer product training package.
TORA New-Product Showcase
 The TORA New-Product Showcase delivers product exposure directly to regional dealers and enthusiasts. It is one of several benefits available to TORA-member companies. |
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The Showcase is given a prime location on the Manufacturer’s Midway to ensure maximum foot traffic from enthusiasts. In addition to hands-on exposure in front of the crowd, each product is professionally photographed. The photos and product descriptions are posted in a gallery on the TORA webpages. The photos are also presented in a video in the TORA booth and during the TORA Fall Nationals Awards Reception at the SEMA Show. The only cost incurred is for shipping the product back and forth from the Carlisle show. SEMA and Carlisle Events staff will unpack and set up each product for display and then repack everything for
return shipment.
Registration for the event will soon be available at www.SEMA.org/TORA-showcase-registration.
TORA Technical Resources
TORA has a long history of providing tangible, hands-on technical resources for installers and retailers. As new vehicles become more and more complex, an installer or retailer can spend considerable time researching something as simple as which wire to tap into for a relocated center high-mount stop light (CHMSL). TORA recently teamed with the SEMA Education Institute (SEI) to produce an TORA Education Track on the SEI eLearning Center, where TORA members can now access these same reference materials 24/7.
The following materials are available on the TORA Education Track:
TORA Wiring Guides: “The days of using a probing test light to identify a brake-light wire are long gone,” said TORA’s Charlie Card of Vehicle Accessories in Flint, Michigan. “Today’s vehicles have very complex wiring systems, and stabbing a wire and tapping into it blindly can invite very costly repairs if you wind up frying one of the vehicle’s computers. Our various wiring reference guides can save an installer considerable time over looking up the information in OEM technical manuals.”
TORA CHMSL Wiring Connection Guide: This guide quickly identifies the location and color of the third brake-light wire on many popular, late-model pickups and SUVs.
TORA Keyless Entry Connection Guide: This guide provides a simple reference tool for identifying the location and color of the lock and unlock wires when installing a keyless entry system.
TORA Pickup Bed Dimensions: This PDF reference guide provides the internal dimensions of many popular pickup beds. With this reference tool and a tape measure, there is no need to research OEM data or rely on the customer for proper identification of the truck model (extended cab, crew cab, etc.).
TORA Why Paint Colors Vary: This video is helpful in explaining to customers how paint colors may vary, even among trucks of the same year, make and model. Differences in process and material suppliers from one assembly plant to another account for slight differences in color and make it difficult for installers to exactly match a paint color.
TORA Manufacturer Product Training
“Manufacturer product training has been a priority of TORA for the past four years,” said TORA Chairman George Lathouris of Keystone Automotive. “Jamie Eriksen and her SEI team have finally brought us a package that we are confident will deliver groundbreaking value to
our members.”
“SEI and Ability Performance Solutions have been fantastic partners in this project,” said TORA Immediate Past Chair Kelly Kneifl of THI. “They properly identified our needs and have developed a product that I believe will fill a big need for manufacturers and retailers alike.”
Complete details were not available at press time. For more information on this or any of the other TORA member benefits, go to the TORA webpages at www.SEMA.org/TORA or call Jim Skelly at 909-978-6690.