In the 1970’s when Americans largely still drove the rear-wheel drive body-on-frame Mastodons of the road, a revolutionary new type of automobile construction took European and U.S. drivers alike by storm. Best illustrated by the Volkswagen (VW) Rabbits of the mid-70s, these front-wheel drive, transverse engine unibody cars hit showroom floors — wowing consumers but catching our collision repair industry off guard. Many shops lacked the sufficient knowledge, training and tools required to properly repair these vehicles. Unfortunately this forced many repairers to refuse the work, or worse yet, conduct improper repairs and put potentially dangerous cars back on the road.
It wouldn’t be too long before U.S. and Japanese manufacturers kept pace with the Europeans. Within about five years, both of these manufacturers made front-wheel drive more widely available. Although the initial U.S. offerings were not great to say the least, (Anyone fondly remember the Chevy Citation or Plymouth’s Reliant K?) the vehicle architecture was here to stay—a testament to the efficiency this design provided for space utilization and fuel savings achieved through weight reduction.
Once again the whereabouts of automobile manufacturing have come full circle, as Europe is again leading the charge with interesting advanced technology that the insurance industry must be prepared to estimate and the collision repair industry must be trained to repair. So what’s sparking these changes? European automakers have two primary goals in sight:
1. Increasing mileage and fuel efficiency through weight savings and
2. Meeting European Union mandated side impact standards, causing manufacturers to introduce increasingly complex metal alloys—all without compromising safety or performance.
Both construction and repair methods have changed
The traditional method used to stamp sheet metal for mass produced parts like doors and roofs is a process known as deep drawing. During this process, a metal sheet spools off of a massive roll and is later pressed into a body part mold by a three-dimensional die. While this process doesn’t sound difficult, when it comes to high-strength steel components, production problems with wear and tear tend to surface. Incredibly expensive molds wear out more quickly under the added burden of forming these stronger alloy components, driving up amortized assembly costs.
Sound bad? It is. These costs ultimately will be passed on to the end consumer through vehicle price increases. Price increases at this level won’t be the end.
Repair costs will increase as well. Rigid drill bits, higher amperage welding units, and valuable time needed to provide additional training on estimating and proper repair methods will be required to estimate and repair vehicles in accordance with manufacturers’ instructions. Notice the careful phrasing here of “instructions”—not “recommendations.” Why stress the clarity of words? Although these two words may look interchangeable, they most definitely are not — a valuable lesson learned from a recent Porsche USA presentation.
The Porsche representative said it best when he bluntly stated, “We don’t have recommendations, we have repair instructions because there is only one way to do it right.” You can almost be sure that we’ll be hearing those same types of comments more and more when it comes to repairing high-tech vehicles—there will be one way and one way only to repair it right.
Take for example today’s VW Rabbit —a nameplate whose models have the potential to test estimators and repairers. The Rabbit nameplate is back again after a twenty plus year hiatus (at least in the U.S.), and the car is just as groundbreaking now as it was when the first Rabbits hit our shores in the mid-1970s.
This time, the advances are not only in the layout of the engine and drivetrain but in the advanced construction methods and exotic alloys used to achieve weight reduction and maintain strict safety standards. Again, keep in mind, as materials advance so too does the need for estimators and repairers to increase their knowledge and training to accurately estimate and repair these vehicles. Remember that welding and repair mistakes can not only be extremely costly, but they can also pose potential safety hazards if repaired improperly — making the case for being aware of and executing the proper repair instructions even stronger. With many Ultra High Strength Steel alloys, for example, excessive heat changes the metallurgy and makes the part brittle, which is undetectable to the naked eye—even to the most seasoned collision repairer.
High end cars offering unique construction and new repair issues
High-end European vehicles face the same challenges as the humble VW Rabbit — such as the need to improve fuel economy and meet side impact standards. With this month’s launch of the new Jaguar XJ sedan, Jaguar is giving us some clues of how it and other European manufacturers will address these issues, as well as resolving the repair challenges these conversions will bring.
The new XJ has a monocoque aluminum structure that in and of itself is nothing new, but this new model does offer some unique door shell construction. The door skins are aluminum, but rely on various metal alloys for door frame strength. The hinge pillar is a casting, and the bottom and side panels are sheet stampings that use high-strength extrusions for the impact beam and door frame—which is where the unique repair solutions will need to come into play.
Jaguar does not recommend repairing the door shell. Instead, it will be sponsoring a door exchange program with the damaged door being the “core.” You heard it right — a non-repairable exterior panel that must be exchanged through the dealer for a rebuilt unit. This will no doubt ensure the integrity of the door replacement but will likely increase average repair costs. Could this type of repair be adopted by other automakers? Since all auto makers are facing the same needs (increased fuel economy and increased side impact protection) the answer is likely to be an emphatic “yes.”
What the U.S. can learn from European carmakers
If we want to get a clear picture of the future of U.S. collision repair technology, we will once again need to look at what is coming out of Europe. Techniques like stretching multiple alloys such as lightweight aluminum over alloy skeletal frames to beef up strength will likely be answers that U.S. automakers adopt comply with the newly increased CAFÉ standards just announced. This time, our industry can’t afford to be caught off guard and most certainly can’t afford “on-the-job training” with these critical structural components.
