Ford/Lincoln Position Statement: Pre- and Post-Repair System Scanning

Details Posted on 10 December 2018 | Share:

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All of the advancements in vehicle technology in recent years have led to Ford and Lincoln position statements on pre- and post-repair scanning. Let’s take a look at the guidelines laid out by Ford/Lincoln on this subject.

According to the Ford Pre- And Post-Diagnostic Scanning During A Collision Repair position statement and the Lincoln Pre- And Post-Diagnostic Scanning During A Collision Repair position statement, Ford/Lincoln define a collision as “damage that exceeds minor outer body panel cosmetic distortion.” Pre- and post-repair scanning will be required of all collision damaged vehicles for the model years 2010 and newer.

For vehicles prior to 2010, you should follow the Ford/Lincoln Workshop manual, which states under Diagnostic Scan Tool Testing Diagnostic Trouble Code Retrieval: "Generally, a good diagnostic strategy is to resolve all on-demand codes related to the system concern. Retrieving all continuous DTCs can also be beneficial to understand historic issues or issues outside of the suspect system that may be affecting your concern. On-demand testing should be done to ensure the fault represented by a continuous DTC is still present."

There are reasons given in the statement supporting the need for pre- and post-repair scanning. Some reasons are that not every malfunction will trigger a visible alert, such as a malfunction indicator light (MIL), and that a MIL may take a number of key cycles before it turns on. This is important for damaged vehicles because many times there may have been zero key cycles before the estimate is started if the vehicle was towed in. The statement also notes, that low battery voltage can trigger many diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs).

You can view Ford position statements and Lincoln position statements on the RTS website.

For additional Ford/Lincoln information, check out the following pages:
Ford OEM Information
Lincoln OEM Information

Additional I-CAR Collision Repair News you may find helpful:

• ADAS, Calibration, And Scanning Article Hotspot
• Pre- and Post-Repair System Scanning Statements

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