The students are also required to take a written exam and to demonstrate their ability to understand different automotive scenarios, such as diagnosing an alignment or wiring problem and the ability to assemble and disassemble parts and apply torque accurately. While all the teams are winners, numerous prizes, scholarships, tools, equipment, and even brand new automobiles are awarded to the winners. However, only after the students graduate from an institute of higher learning do they receive the new vehicle. This program is an annual nationwide automotive diagnostic competition for high school students. This contest is supported by a unique coalition of government, industry, and the private sector whose goals are to improve the quality and quantity of automotive service technicians needed to service the high technology vehicles in use today.
Teams representing fifty states compete against the clock to repair deliberately disabled vehicles.
Contestants' scores are also dependent upon the successful completion of a thirty question emissions exam. More than 6,000 students have the opportunity to earn nearly three million dollars in scholarships and prizes. This competition is a major effort to train and prepare automotive technicians of the future. Again, these competitions offer training and educational opportunities for students, the high-tech automotive technicians of the future. EPA wholeheartedly supports these and other efforts which stress the importance and responsibility of quality vehicle maintenance and service as part of our overall mission of clean air.