This category covers establishments primarily engaged in the installation, repair, or sales and installation of automotive transmissions. The sale of transmissions and related parts is considered incidental to the installation or repair of these products.
811113 (Automotive Transmission Repair)
By the late 1990s, developments in U.S. automotive technology and design ensured that both manual and automatic transmissions were among the most reliable parts of an automobile. But the complexity of the transmission as a system of many precisely interrelated components, as well as the difficulty of diagnosing and correcting faults, meant the problems that did occur were unlikely to be tackled by drivers in their own garages. Instead, this situation created a market for professional mechanics specializing in transmission repair.
In 1998, 10.7 percent of new cars sold in the U.S. came with a manual transmission. This reflected a major shift from the 1970s, when, because of sharp increases in oil and gas prices, manual transmissions dominated the new car market. Manual transmissions were far more fuel efficient, and were standard on small foreign imports, which became popular during the efficiency-aware '70s. But as prices settled and automatic transmissions became more fuel-efficient and increasingly advanced, they rose in again in popularity through the 1980s and into the 1990s.
Routine maintenance demanded the periodic checking and changing of automatic transmission or transaxle oil, and possibly the replacement of the transmission filter. As with engine oil, transmission fluid could be checked by means of a dipstick. The detection of signs of contamination of the transmission fluid, by metal, dirt, moisture, or friction material from internal parts, was an important step because such contamination could lead to rapid wear of parts and to premature transmission failure.
Inspection of the transmission fluid also provided an invaluable guide to the diagnosis of existing or potential problems. Fluid that was milky typically became inter-mixed with the engine coolant; fluid that was blackened or had a burnt odor indicated serious damage to the transmission; and fluid with a light brown color usually had broken down, which led to a wide variety of further problems.
Manual transmissions required the operation of a clutch mechanism subject to high levels of wear and tear. Among the problems tackled by transmission specialists working on manual transmissions were pulsating or stiff clutch pedals; clutches that grabbed, chattered, dragged, or slipped because of improper clutch adjustment; a binding clutch release mechanism; a broken engine mount; or oil or grease on a clutch disc. Repairs to the clutch often required the removal of drive axles, transaxles, and even entire engines. Other problems found in manual transmissions were noise, leaks, grinding of gears during shifting, difficulty in making gear shifts, or transmissions locked in one gear or jumping out of the gear selected.
In automatic transmissions, the most common adjustments that could be made with the transmission still in place were adjustments to the transmission band, the shift linkage, or the neutral safety switch. More major internal problems required the removal of the entire transmission. In the removal and disassembly of all kinds of transmissions, the utmost care had to be taken to avoid damaging the component parts. In addition, any worn or damaged parts needed to be replaced, or else the reassembled transmission would soon require another disassembly for a future problem.
The earliest automobiles required constant but low-level maintenance. The earliest drivers were either enthusiastic enough to perform the necessary minor adjustments themselves or wealthy enough to employ a mechanic for this purpose. The earliest automobiles were also slow. Only with the advent of faster vehicles did transmission technology—designed specifically to maximize engine efficiency by adjusting performance in coordination with changes in speed—become an important feature of automotive design, and thus a sophisticated mechanism requiring expertise to maintain, repair, or replace.
The first transmissions were manual. Easier to drive but harder to fix, automatic transmissions began appearing in the United States in significant numbers after World War II. At first, auto manufacturers were reluctant to adopt what they considered to be an overly complex gadget, but its popularity with consumers soon convinced them.
By the early 1970s, transmission repair specialists were a solidly established sector of automotive mechanics. However, at this time the automotive repair industry became the number one source of consumer complaints about incompetence and dishonesty. In the field of transmission repairs, the heavily advertised AAMCO chain suffered from bad publicity due to the number of franchises found guilty of some form of systematic abuse of their customers. Some franchises offered free diagnoses, on the basis of which transmissions were dismantled and then not rebuilt until the consumer consented to the performance of repairs that often proved to be both unnecessary and expensive. Many AAMCO franchise holders were not experienced mechanics, so there was no guarantee that the work performed would be competent. All franchise holders were also pressured to achieve an assigned average repair order — something they could not do without performing unnecessary repairs at least some of the time.
Consumer protection groups and changes in legislation curbed the grossest of these abuses, but the entire automotive repair industry in the United States remained largely unregulated toward the end of the 20th century. In the case of transmissions, consumers had little choice but to trust that a given mechanic performed repairs in a conscientious and competent way. As Arthur P. Glickman noted in Mr. Badwrench, "The unknowing motorist whose car won't shift or shifts badly can easily believe that his car is in need of $250 to $600 worth of repairs, though the problem may actually be minor." Conversely, however, the complexity of transmission systems presented acute difficulties for mechanics who had to produce honest estimates before probing for problem areas among many interrelated parts.
The automobile repair and service industry had a total revenue of $69.6 billion in 1998, while the automobile transmission repair sector accounted for $2.9 billion of the market.
In 1997, there were a total of 6,768 establishments performing automotive transmission repairs, an increase of nearly 12 percent over an estimated 6,060 in 1996.
By the mid 1990s, automatic transmissions appeared in more than 85 percent of new American cars, although a gasoline price spike could again bring manual transmissions back into fashion as they were in the 1970s. While the new automatics of the late 1990s were smoother shifting and more fuel-efficient than their predecessors, manuals were still more fuel-efficient than even the best automatic.
At the end of the 1990s, the leader in automotive transmission repair was AAMCO Transmissions Inc., a franchise with $40.9 million in sales and 225 employees. AAMCO was rated as the ninth largest franchise in the United States by the 1999 Business Rankings Annual.
Transmission specialists were generally regarded as among the most extensively trained and knowledgeable of all automotive mechanics. To perform their job adequately, they needed to be familiar with all features of transmission technology, including electronic, hydraulic, and computer systems. In addition, they had to understand automotive fundamentals outside their chosen area of expertise in order to distinguish between transmission-related problems and those stemming from some other source. In fact, transmission specialists had to achieve much the same level of coverage as National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (NAISE or ASE) certified "master mechanics" in order to perform repairs on what was arguably the most sensitive and complicated area of an automobile.
The many interrelated components of a transmission, and the different technologies regulating their functioning (hydraulics, electronics, and computers, for instance), means that transmission specialists have to be able to wield a wide variety of tools, including micrometers and telescoping gauges, special pullers, electronic stethoscopes, and transmission jacks. Transmission repair experts also face a variety of dangers on the job, from the weight and bulk of transmissions, the hot transmission fluid, and the asbestos from which clutch disc linings or friction material is made.
Approximately 29,500 employees worked in this industry in the late 1990s. This was a substantial 19 percent increase from 1993's 24,800 employees. Total payroll in this industry reached over $709 million.
Transmission specialists outside the United States were likely to encounter a significantly higher proportion of manual transmissions than their American counterparts. In addition, one important new design concept seen in some foreign cars was the continuously variable transmission (CVT), which featured an infinite number of driving ratios rather than the three, four, or five forward speeds found in traditional types. As James E. Duffy explained in Modern Automotive Mechanics , the CVT was "capable of increasing fuel economy approximately 25 percent because it keeps the engine at its most efficient operating speed. Engine RPM can be kept relatively constant. The engine does NOT have to accelerate through each gear, resulting in an almost smooth increase in vehicle speed." In the late 1990s, automatic transmissions were beginning to make some headway in Europe, where most drivers still preferred manuals. But a new generation of high-tech, smoother shifting and more fuel-efficient automatics—not to mention congested roadways that make frequent shifting a hassle—has made the automatic transmission more popular overseas.
Key areas of concern for the U.S. automotive industry in the 1990s included the wider use of electronics in conventional vehicles and the development of electric cars. As a result, transmission repair shops prepared themselves to work on increasingly sophisticated systems. As Stephen Plumb explained in Ward's Automotive Yearbook 1993 , "In 1991, electronic transmissions accounted for less than 20 percent of all gearboxes installed on domestically produced cars. This figure is expected to rise to over 80 percent by the late 1990s, which means virtually all automatic transaxles will be electronically controlled. Electronic transmissions help improve drivability, shift smoothness, and fuel economy." Plumb's estimate was not far from reality. In 1997, one car in nine came with a stick shift—most being sportscars and ultra-economy compacts. And for the manual-shift enthusiasts who wanted the best of both worlds, in 1996, Chrysler introduced the Autostick, a transmission that's part automatic and part manual. It had no clutch, but drivers could drop the shifter out of automatic and change gears.
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AAMCO Web site. Available from http://www.aamco.com .
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