Drive Train Technician

A Drive Train Technician degree recipient will have demonstrated competencies necessary to diagnose, service, and maintain suspension systems, braking systems, manual transmissions, automatic transmissions, transxales, and differentials. To earn this degree, students must also complete the requirements listed in Column 1 of the General Education Breadth Requirements for Columbia College.

There are typically 25 - 28 students enrolled full-time annually in the automotive technology program. While there is a trend of high program completers with certificates of achievements, only 1-4 students annually will complete a degree program due to the general education requirements. The automotive technology program advisory committee has recommended a certificate of achievement that will have the same automotive coursework requirements as this degree program. However, that certificate of achievement will not be officially proposed until the single full-time faculty member in the program can make the new certificate a priority. Because this degree award is replacing a degree award, enrollments (25-28) and degree completers (1-4) will likely be the same as the past several years. CIP Code(s): • 470604 Automotive Mechanics Technology Geography: Mother Lode Region (Includes: Amador County, Calaveras County, Mariposa County, Tuolumne County, Stanislaus County) 493023 (SOC) Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics 2008 Employment: 630 Annual Job Openings: 35 Source: http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/commcolleges/Projections.asp

The Automotive Technology program has been an active program at Columbia College since the 1970s. There are eight Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) automotive areas. ASE is the most widely known national certification agency for automotive technicians. The program provides curriculum in all ASE areas. Because national standards provide a centralized guidepost for automotive training standards, the program has been nationally accredited with the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation (NATEF) since 1999. NATEF is a training program accreditation subsidiary of ASE. NATEF accreditation standards requires compliance with 11 standards. A strong central focus of NATEF standards are the inclusion of local advisory committee input for substantive program designs and practices. As a minimum, two advisory committee meetings must be conducted, and the agendas for such meetings must include curriculum changes, among other items. The advisory committee has approved 1) the discontinuance of the AS degree major Automotive Maintenance Technician. At the same time, the committee recommended the AS degree major Drive Train Technician. The Drive Train Technician degree includes coursework that fills contemporary needs in the automotive labor market. Thus, the goal of offering the Drive Train Technician degree is to better prepare students for entry into the automotive industry as an automotive technician.

AT97 Work Experience in Auto Technology 1 AT105 Automotive Braking Systems 4 AT113 Automotive Electrics 7 AT120 Suspension and Steering 4 AT122 Manual Power Trains and Axles 4 AT132 Automatic Transmissions and Transaxles 3 Total Units 23