Collision Repair News

Your job requires that you keep on top of the latest in vehicle, tool, and equipment technology – I-CAR is committed to helping you do so in one convenient place. We regularly publish new articles highlighting the latest and greatest collision repair information.

So check back often and follow us on Twitter @Ask_ICAR to ensure you’re equipped with the most up-to-date collision repair technical information available in the industry.



What Is Programming?

Believe it or not, programming has been done now for decades. When on board diagnostics (OBD) became the standard, it brought along a lot of processes that had not previously been needed. Even though many collision repairers have been around this technology for a long time, many still don’t understand what programming is or what it is doing. Often times, programming can only be done with a high-level aftermarket scan tool or by a dealer with a factory scan tool. For the most part, when a module was replaced, a technician’s involvement was to send the vehicle to the dealer with a SRS light on, and it came back without the light on. However, there are more components than ever on vehicles that require programming. For example, you may not be able to change a tail lamp without having to program it. What does it mean to program something?

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Panel Layering Considerations

Panel layering often comes up in the collision repair process. The order that overlapping panels were put on at the factory may affect how parts are replaced during the repair process. The build sequence may also affect access to the joints that require separation for replacement parts.

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Locating ADAS Information: Ford/Lincoln

As a collision repair technician, there is one part of a service manual that houses all of the information you would ever need…right? This is not the case with modern vehicles. You may be required to look in numerous manuals to find the information required to safely repair the vehicle.

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Repairer Driven News: Pulling and Repair Tolerances

An important part of collision repair is set up, measuring, and pulling on vehicles. Many technicians are either not comfortable with these steps, or simply don't know how to do it. Going hand-in-hand with this topic is repair tolerances, what is acceptable and what isn't. Repairer Driven News (RDN) has published several articles that helps to shed light on these topics.

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Appearance Isn't Everything

Normally the quality of a collision repair technician can be measured by whether or not you can tell they were ever there. Meaning that the damaged vehicle was returned to pre-collision condition. You shouldn’t be able to see welds, mismatched paint, or parts that don’t fit. We want to hide the fact that someone was there. However, sometimes the OEM does not make that possible.

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Trailer Assist Systems

You may have heard or seen some of the new features available for towing trailers. Some of the features include, trailer back-up assist and blind spot monitoring for trailers. These features can cause complications when it comes to collision repairs. Let’s take a look at how these systems can affect repairs.

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What is Calibration?

The word calibration is thrown around a lot in the collision industry today, but what does it actually mean to calibrate something? How does "calibrate" fit into other words that we use to describe similar processes, and what are some of the differences?

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OEM Linking Pin: Finding Mazda Missing BRMs

As part of the I-CAR Repairability Technical Support (RTS) OEM linking pin activity, we are helping to connect the collision repair industry to the vehicle makers. We recently noticed that some of the Mazda body repair manuals (BRM) were missing for certain model years. We reached out to Mazda for clarification.

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