Helping to shape the future of the automotive industry.
The Ford / AAA Student Auto Skills Competition fosters young people’s interest in the automotive industry through a spirited nationwide competition with opportunities to win prizes, scholarships, tools and awards along with an experience that could help shape the future of their careers.
Putting students’ knowledge to the test.
The competition consists of two-person teams of 11th and 12th grade automotive technology students attending secondary schools and colleges (serving local high schools) with at least one full-time or part-time automotive instructor.
Everyone who registers for the competition gets the opportunity to demonstrate their automotive knowledge and qualify for prizes by taking a written exam. Those students scoring the highest (typically the top ten teams) participate in a “hands-on” competition within their respective state, challenging students to diagnose and fix uniformly “bugged” new Ford vehicles as quickly as possible while ensuring quality workmanship.
The winning two-person team from each state is recognized with scholarships, tools, and awards, and, along with their instructor, are provided an expense-paid trip to the national finals at the Ford Motor Company Headquarters in Michigan.
The national finals includes a written test and a “hands-on” competition, similar to the “hands-on” competition at the state level, but with a different, new Ford vehicle. The team with the fewest quality-of-workmanship demerits and the best combined total score of repair time and written exam scores will be the winner. The 2013 Ford Explorer XLT is this year's vehicle for the National Hands-On competition!
Awards and future employment opportunities.
Students win scholarships, trophies, apparel, certificates, shop manuals, trips and automotive equipment. Instructors are eligible to win equipment, service publications, trophies and prestige for their schools. Opportunities with the Ford ASSET program will be available to many of the competition finalists.
Additionally, the names of each contestant who registers for the competition are submitted to AAA affiliated service facilities, Ford Motor Company dealers, and many other sponsoring organizations that have a need for automotive technicians and other service specialists. This competition complements other Ford and AAA efforts to promote the careers in the automotive field.
