Making ACES & PIES Simple
Strabo Partners helps automotive parts manufacturers and distributors take the complexity out of ACES and PIES. Whether you're building files from scratch or need help managing an existing file, we'll transform your product and fitment data into a validated, usable format that's ready for your partners, systems, and sales channels.
ACES vs. PIES
What is ACES?
The ACES standard or “Aftermarket Catalog Exchange Standard” was created in order to have a standardized format for information relating to product selection and product fitment. This fitment data is used to ensure accurate Year/Make/Model/Submodel, etc product searches and lookups. Whenever you go out to a website to see if an auto part fits your vehicle, chances are an ACES file is helping to ensure you are getting an accurate list of parts that fit your vehicle. The ACES standard is used to generate vehicle fitment for light, medium, and heavy duty vehicles. ACES is also used to power fitment for powersport, off-highway, and equipment manufacturers.
What is PIES?
The PIES standard or “Product Information Exchange Standard” is the industry standard built for the management and communication of specific product information. This includes part attributes like part number, pricing, and other parts data as necessary. Like ACES, the PIES standard is used by light, medium, heavy duty vehicles, powersport, off-highway, and equipment manufacturers. The PIES standard includes all your brand information like brand id, etc as well. If you are an auto parts online seller, Strabo has a product information management (PIM) tool designed to help ingest these PIES files and send them to your ecommerce store. With our PIM, Product Desk, we have the ability to sync to many popular ecommerce platforms.
ACES & PIES Standards
The ACES and PIES automotive aftermarket industry standard was developed by the AutoCare Association.
Automotive Aftermarket Companies
You will find all leading automotive aftermarket companies use these formats to exchange data related to parts information, product attributes, general application data, and vehicle fitment.
File Format
While traditionally all of these files are sent via XML format, more and more this information is being sent by suppliers and retailers using APIs for faster and more secure transmission.
File Generation for Manufacturers
Don't have an ACES or PIES file yet? We generate these files from scratch for manufacturers, ensuring your product and fitment data is accurate, properly formatted, and ready for reseller consumption.
Vehicle Configuration Database
The ACES and PIES standards allow for mapping to the Vehicle Configuration Database, or VCdb. The VCdb is a database of vehicle configurations for North America.
Searching for Parts
By mapping and validating your vehicle information to the VCdb you are able to accurately and reliably perform year/make/model searches and ensure correct parts lookups in your ERP, CRM, or eCommerce platform.
VCdb Attributes
The VCdb has over 50 unique attributes classified into vehicle systems or groups for a simplified mapping.
Other Automotive Databases
AutoCare publishes several other important databases like the Qualifier database (Qdb), Product Classification database (PCdb), and more.
Product Information Management
Strabo Partner's PIM can help you utilize each of these databases as needed to ensure proper validation of your files and data.
Common questions.
Everything you need to know about ACES & PIES data. Need more help? Call us at (720) 408-4254 or contact us today.
See it in action.
See ACES & PIES import in Product Desk
We'll walk through importing an ACES or PIES file into Product Desk, and how it validates your data against the VCdb as it comes in.
See a validated file exported
We'll show how Product Desk generates a clean, properly formatted ACES or PIES file ready for your resellers and marketplaces.
Talk to a Product Desk specialist
No sales script, you'll be talking directly with someone who works with ACES and PIES data every day.
No pressure, no pitch
Come with questions. Leave with clarity on whether Product Desk fits how your team manages fitment and product data.
Guidance on Automotive Data & Fitment
Practical takes on ACES, PIES, VCdb, and managing product data across the automotive aftermarket.
PIMs in the Automotive Industry July 11, 2024 By: Tiffany Hindman Product Information Management (PIM) is an integral solution designed to centralize, manage, and organize all the data related to products, including specifications, pricing, and intricate details about parts and
How to Leverage Ecommerce Solutions to Increase Automotive Aftermarket Sales April 25, 2024 By: Tiffany Hindman The automotive industry has seen a significant shift in consumer behavior over the past decade. Gone are the days when people would rely solely
Decoding the Secrets of Autocare’s ACES and PIES February 28, 2024 By: Skip Townsend Managing fitment in the world of automotive aftermarket can be a daunting task. Data standards play a crucial role in ensuring seamless communication and exchange of
PIM Feature: Product Inventory Locations October 4, 2023 By: Skip Townsend Introducing the newest feature of Product Desk: Product inventory location management! With this new feature, you can now use Product Desk to manage your product inventory on-hand across multiple
Automotive E-Commerce Challenges Updated: October 15, 2025 Originally Published: July 12, 2023 By: Chris Robbins Summary: The automotive aftermarket is shifting online fast—but selling car parts through eCommerce isn’t simple. From managing ACES & PIES fitment data to staying competitive
Why ACES and PIES Matter February 8, 2023 By: Chris Robbins If you are in the automotive aftermarket industry it is likely you are already familiar with ACES PIES and how important it is to have a strategy for maintaining