Spotlight 10 www.aftermarketonline.net MAY 2026 Fifty years of tool evolution With Laser Tools recently celebrating its 50th anniversary, Aftermarket’s Editor, Chris Callander, spoke with the company’s Technical Director, Mark Softley, about how the world of automotive tools has changed in the years since the company was formed. As part of celebrations to mark its 50th anniversary, Laser Tools has launched Future 50, an initiative designed to support aspiring young mechanics in their first steps into the automotive aftermarket, and has also introduced 50 new specialedition tools. Future 50 offers garages the opportunity to nominate their existing apprentices for the new initiative. The chosen Future 50 each receive a Laser Tools Apprentice Tool Kit, complete with a range of high-quality products, and have the chance to win one of three pairs of VIP racing tickets to a British Touring Car Championship race at Brands Hatch on 11th October, with advice, training and accreditation opportunities also to be announced. The 50 new tools, each complete with a 50-year warranty, were unveiled during a special episode of the ‘Laser Live’ videocast broadcast on Laser Tools’ dedicated YouTube channel in March this year, and are featured in a special edition of Tool Saver, Laser Tools’ dedicated parts catalogue. Laser Tools started as a business in 1976, when its founder, the late Martin Smith, began selling automotive tools from a market stall in Leamington. From those humble origins, it has grown to become one of the most respected brands in the automotive sector. Over the past five decades, cars, and in turn the tools needed to maintain them, have become increasingly complex. So I spoke to Mark Softley, Technical Director at Laser Tools, to find out in more depth how the landscape has changed in terms of the tools technicians need and their expectations of tool manufacturers. Chris Callander: Mark, how has the role of specialist tools evolved over the past 50 years as vehicle technology has become more complex? Mark Softly: Fifty years ago, cars like the Ford Escort ruled our city, and you didn’t need any special tools to work on them. Today, almost every make and even individual models require special service tools (SSTs). Around that time, we also started to see some vehicles using special fixings like Torx-headed bolts and screws, and now they are everywhere. Then, as engines became more advanced and emissions rules tightened, timing jobs went from ‘line up the marks and pop a pin in’ to using digital gauges to measure exact angles. Developments in every area of the vehicle have led to ever-increasing numbers of SSTs being required. Chris: So, looking back over the past five decades, what would you say have been the most significant turning points in the automotive aftermarket? Mark: At Laser Tools, we focus primarily on the mechanical aspects of the vehicle. While automotive electronics have advanced at an extraordinary pace, especially considering that fifty years ago most cars had virtually none, the mechanical side has had to evolve alongside them. In fact, many electronic innovations have directly reshaped mechanical design. Closedloop fuel injection, OBD-II, ABS, ADAS and electrification are all milestones that have had a knock-on effect on the mechanical side of the vehicle as a whole. New tooling is required, from a special screwdriver to adjust a camera angle to electronically-defined engine timing kits and ADAS targets, etc. Keeping up has never been simple, and for Laser Tools, it’s an ongoing mission. Electric vehicles (EVs) aren’t the end of the story; they’re just the next chapter in how vehicles keep changing. Chris: And how are these developments shaping the types of tools workshops now require? Mark: Even with electrification, cars haven’t stopped needing mechanical systems. EVs still have brakes, suspension, and all the usual chassis components, etc. Electronics need sensors or cameras to feed back data, and those sensors need to be set up and even adjusted. That’s where tools, and often SSTs, come in. Chris: Alongside the evolution of vehicles, how have the needs and expectations of independent workshops changed over time when it comes to tools and equipment? Mark: Independents really don’t have it easy. They are almost always the last to learn about new systems, procedures, and protocols, and OEMs often share far less information than they should. A new camshaft design, such as COD, can require an entirely new process or methodology, yet independents often only discover this when the vehicle is already on the ramp for service or repair. They will then come to us asking, ‘Do you Martin Smith founded Laser Tools under the name Smith’s Tools Keeping up has never been simple
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ0NzM=