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.



I-CAR Training and Certification: Steel Sectioning Course Updated

To help the industry be better prepared for repairing new vehicles, I-CAR has updated the Training and Certification: Steel Sectioning. With the changes to vehicles happening daily from new materials, thinner materials, new technologies, and new repair procedures, collision repair technicians have had to update their skills to repair the new vehicles.

Continue Reading...


New Honda "Body Repair News" Publication

A new free publication from Honda features body repair information on their new models. The first two editions of Body Repair News are now available on Honda's Service Express website. The premier publication in the series focuses on new model body repair information for the 2014 Acura MDX and the second edition covers the 2013 Honda Accord. Subsequent Body Repair News editions will be created, or updated, for each new model and any minor model change where significant body design changes are made.

Continue Reading...


MIG Brazing on the 2013 Honda Accord

If you haven't been exposed to MIG brazing yet, it's likely that you will be in the not-too-distant future. More and more popular vehicles are requiring MIG brazing for attaching certain high-strength steel (HSS) parts when making collision repairs. An example of this is on the 2013 Honda Accord.

Continue Reading...


OSHA Hazard Communication Standard Revision

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is requiring that all employees be trained, by December 1st of 2013, on the revision to its Hazard Communication Standard. The revision to the 1994 standard more closely aligns with the Globally Harmonized System (GHS), an international approach to labeling and classifying hazardous products.

Continue Reading...


Dressing GMA Welds

There's a lot of information in the field on making and testing GMA welds, but not too much on dressing the welds after they're made on a vehicle. Any GMA weld usually requires dressing the top surface of the weld.

Continue Reading...


Front Lower Rail Section With No Welding

If there is a sectioning procedure on a front lower rail, GMA welding across a seam is the usual method for attaching the new joint. On at least two late model Porsche vehicles, however, there is a front lower rail sectioning procedure that uses no welds at all. The rails on the Panamera, since 2010, and the 911, since 2012, both have aluminum construction.

Continue Reading...


Necessary Culture Changes For The Blueprinting Process

Blueprinting is a term often heard in the collision repair industry. Blueprinting means different things to different people, but blueprinting really is establishing a standard operating procedure (SOP) that allows for the discovery of all the damage before repairs begin. As part of the blueprinting process, all the parts should be identified right down to the blend panels and the clips that are needed. The correct repair information should be found along with any color matching that needs to be done. Following these steps and others, before repairs begin, will eliminate the problems that arise from finding additional damage during the repair process, which can interrupt and delay the repairs on that vehicle. Worse yet, is when the vehicle is repaired incorrectly because vehicle maker repair procedures were not followed.

One of the biggest challenges to implementing the blueprinting process may be the staff's perception of what will be involved. To be successful, those perceptions must be changed.

Continue Reading...


General Motors eAssist Electric System

Another version of electric-assist vehicle technology is showing up in collision repair facilities. General Motors in 2012 introduced what it refers to as "light electrification" technology on select models. This system is called eAssist, and is available on some 2012 Buick LaCrosse, Regal, and 2013 Chevrolet Malibu models (see Figure 1).

Continue Reading...


Revised I-CAR Training and Certification: Steel GMA Welding Course

The challenges for vehicle makers to make vehicles safe and strong as well as lightweight have resulted in material variations. Many of today's steel-structured vehicles use steel in the range of 0.70 mm thickness for the outer panels, and a thicker, and in many cases higher strength, steel for the structure. This has resulted in I-CAR revising its Training and Certification: Steel GMA Welding to more accurately reflect the thicknesses of steels being used.

Continue Reading...


General Motors Overlap Sectioning Joint

Until recently, General Motors has generally specified butt joints with backings when sectioning parts of a uniside. However, an overlap joint is now being required for some uniside sectioning joints. This is being done to reduce the transfer of heat from GMA welding into heat-sensitive high- and ultra-high-strength steel reinforcements. The concern with a butt joint with backing is that the backing piece does not extend to the pinchweld flange, and leaves the reinforcement exposed. As a result, a GMA weld is made on the pinchweld flange area of the reinforcement (see Figure 1).

Continue Reading...


Bonding And Rivet Bonding Technology On Steel BMW Vehicle Parts

As BMW Groups' vehicle construction technology advances, so does the repair process required to fix them properly. Conventional welding, which has been used primarily in BMW Groups' repair processes in the past, is slowly becoming the secondary method to bonding and rivet bonding technology. BMW currently recommends primarily using bonding and rivet bonding to replace exterior body panels, structural parts, and sectioning specific locations in conjunction with VIN-specific repair procedures. Changes in recommended repair procedures affect all current production models. This does not mean that all models, and all parts, are affected though. Consulting VIN-specific repair procedures should always be the first step in the repair process. The same is true for Mini and for Rolls-Royce vehicles (see Figure 1).

Continue Reading...


Oil Spill At The I-CAR Tech Center

A small motor oil spill incident at the I-CAR Tech Center in Appleton, Wisconsin in the spring of 2011 has raised our awareness of the many considerations involved with a material spill into the environment. What started as an accidental collision between a snowplow and a 55-gallon drum of waste oil on an adjoining property resulted in an experience we would never want to repeat.

Continue Reading...


Ford F-150 Body Mount Cage Nuts

Beginning with the 2009 model year Ford F-150, the cab body mount bolts are secured with a cage nut. The cage nut is held in position inside a cage nut retainer that is attached to the inside of a floor crossmember. The crossmember is attached to the underside of the floor pan, which creates an enclosure for the cage nut. The retainer has two nut retaining tabs, one on each opposing side of the nut that are folded against the nut to hold it in place (see Figure 1).

Continue Reading...


Don't Section Ultra-High-Strength Steel - I-CAR Repairability Summit Identifies Best Practices

Unless specifically recommended by the vehicle maker, parts with a tensile strength over 600 MPa should only be replaced at factory seams. This is just one of the "best practices" identified at a Repairability Summit hosted by I-CAR. Summit attendees consisted of subject matter experts from vehicle makers, tool and equipment makers, collision repair facilities, insurance companies, and the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Continue Reading...