{ "source": "Cooked Index — occupational AI risk register", "page": "https://cookedindex.com/jobs/electronic-equipment-installers-and-repairers-motor-vehicles/", "methodology": "https://cookedindex.com/methodology", "notice": "Verdicts are re-examined as evidence accumulates. Re-fetch before relying on this; the page above always carries the current score.", "scored_at": "2026-08-11", "model": "claude-opus-5", "occupation": { "title": "Electronic Equipment Installers and Repairers, Motor Vehicles", "soc_code": "49-2096", "category": "Trades", "us_employment": 8550, "median_annual_wage": 48420 }, "verdict": "EXPOSED", "risk_resistance": 51, "contested": false, "near_boundary": false, "dimensions": { "task_resistance": 15, "embodiment": 17, "liability_shield": 3, "trust_premium": 8, "judgment_accountability": 8 }, "reasoning": { "task_resistance": "Fishing a wire loom behind a 2019 Ram's A-pillar, cutting a baffle to fit a door that was never designed for a 6x9, and pinning a T-harness into a factory connector without breaking the retaining tab are tasks defined by the specific vehicle in front of you, which keeps this at 15 rather than 18 — the diagnostic reasoning around them (which wire is the reverse trigger, why the head unit resets on cranking) is increasingly answered by a model reading the same service data you would.", "embodiment": "You work upside down in a footwell with a trim tool in your teeth, on someone else's vehicle, in a bay with variable lighting and no fixed workpiece geometry — 17 rather than 20 only because the car is at least stationary and indoors, unlike a lineman or a roofer.", "liability_shield": "No state licenses 12-volt installers; the 3 reflects that MECP certification is a resume line customers rarely ask about, and when an aftermarket remote start bricks a BCM the argument is with the shop's warranty and the vehicle manufacturer, not with a board that can pull your ticket.", "trust_premium": "An 8 is where repeat business matters — the tuner who brings you every build, the dealer that subs out its accessory work — but the retail customer who found you for a backup camera install compares your quote to two other shops and never learns your name.", "judgment_accountability": "Deciding to run a second ground to the chassis instead of daisy-chaining, or refusing to tap a CAN-bus circuit on a late-model that will throw codes, is discretion with real money behind it, but it sits at 8 because most calls are bounded by the install manual, the amp's current draw, and what the customer already paid for." }, "rationale": "The core of this job — pulling door panels and dashboards, running wire looms through firewalls, fabricating amp racks and speaker baffles, splicing into vehicle harnesses, and chasing ground loops and alternator whine in a specific car — is manual work in a cramped, non-standard physical space that no robot performs. What AI erodes is the surrounding layer: wiring-diagram lookup, system design and load calculations, quoting, and troubleshooting scripts that used to take experience to accumulate. There is no license and no signature requirement, so the moat is purely physical skill and the shop's reputation, not regulation.", "outlook": "Employment stays small and flat as factory infotainment absorbs aftermarket audio demand, but the technicians who handle modern vehicle electrical integration and fabrication keep steady, well-paid work.", "what_would_raise_it": { "levers": [ { "dimension": "liability_shield", "change": "ADAS recalibration and safety-system integrity: if state inspection or insurer repair-standard rules (following the pattern of Washington's and Minnesota's OEM-repair-procedure statutes, and I-CAR/OEM position statements requiring documented static/dynamic recalibration after windshield, camera, or radar disturbance) require a named, certified technician to sign a recalibration and pre-scan/post-scan record before a vehicle with ADAS is returned to service, aftermarket electronics work that touches cameras, radar sensors, or CAN bus falls under a signed attestation regime", "plausibility": "plausible", "would_add": 5 }, { "dimension": "liability_shield", "change": "EV high-voltage work: if state occupational rules or insurer conditions require documented HV-qualified personnel (NFPA 70E-style / OEM HV disable-and-verify procedures) for any work behind the HV interlock, installers cutting into EV harnesses need a credentialed sign-off", "plausibility": "already happening", "would_add": 3 }, { "dimension": "judgment_accountability", "change": "As CAN-bus and gateway architectures make any splice a potential source of intermittent faults in braking or driver-monitoring systems, the consequential call becomes 'will this install compromise a safety network' — an ambiguity call the shop owns and can be sued over, rather than a wiring task. Visible now in OEM aftermarket-modification voiding language and in insurers denying claims on modified vehicles", "plausibility": "already happening", "would_add": 4 }, { "dimension": "task_resistance", "change": "Genuine two-tier split: if AI absorbs diagram lookup, load calc, quoting, and scripted diagnosis, the residual job is undocumented-fault work — chasing intermittent ground loops, gateway rejection of aftermarket modules, and vehicles whose harness has been previously butchered, where no diagram exists to consult", "plausibility": "already happening", "would_add": 3 }, { "dimension": "trust_premium", "change": "Narrow route only: high-end and classic/restoration audio and 12-volt work where buyers pay for a named fabricator's craftsmanship (SEMA/MECA competition circuit, restomod builders). Does not extend to the volume remote-start and backup-camera trade", "plausibility": "plausible", "would_add": 2 } ], "ceiling_note": "Realistic ceiling is low-to-mid 60s. There is no path to a general license for 12-volt installers; the credible gains all come from ADAS/EV safety-system adjacency, which raises the score for technicians who move into that work and leaves the plain audio-and-alarm installer where they are. Trust premium stays thin because most demand is price-shopped through dealers and big-box installers." }, "adjudication": null, "employment_history": { "points": [ { "y": 2017, "emp": 11520, "wage": 34530 }, { "y": 2018, "emp": 10880, "wage": 35590 }, { "y": 2019, "emp": 10310, "wage": 37380 }, { "y": 2020, "emp": 10230, "wage": 39570 }, { "y": 2021, "emp": 9000, "wage": 40670 }, { "y": 2022, "emp": 9450, "wage": 41600 }, { "y": 2023, "emp": 8900, "wage": 45570 }, { "y": 2024, "emp": 10140, "wage": 47940 }, { "y": 2025, "emp": 8550, "wage": 48420 } ], "from": 2017, "to": 2025, "change_pct": -25.8, "comparable_from": 2019, "spans_soc_revision": true }, "pivots": [ { "slug": "automotive-service-technicians-and-mechanics", "title": "Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics", "verdict": "SAFE", "risk_resistance": 67, "median_wage": 50620, "overlap": 86, "skills_to_close": [ "Systems Evaluation", "Systems Analysis" ] }, { "slug": "medical-equipment-repairers", "title": "Medical Equipment Repairers", "verdict": "EXPOSED", "risk_resistance": 64, "median_wage": 61660, "overlap": 85, "skills_to_close": [ "Equipment Maintenance", "Mathematics", "Repairing", "Systems Analysis" ] }, { "slug": "motorcycle-mechanics", "title": "Motorcycle Mechanics", "verdict": "SAFE", "risk_resistance": 68, "median_wage": 48580, "overlap": 81, "skills_to_close": [] } ], "license": "https://cookedindex.com/terms" }