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Home / Collision Repair News / If You Do What You've Always Done ...

If You Do What You've Always Done ...

Posted on 23 December 2014 | Share:
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Ever hear the quote: "if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten"? When it comes to collision repairs, it's far from accurate.

Consider this situation, a 2014 car X had something hit it in the front right of the roof and push down the roof rail about an inch. This seems to be a small amount of damage but let's look a little deeper.

First, what material is the roof rail reinforcement made of? For this example, let's say it's 1,200 MPa. So it can't be heated or straightened. Next, is there a sectioning procedure? After researching the vehicle maker repair information there is no sectioning procedure available. At this point the correct way to fix this vehicle would to be replace the damaged roof rail reinforcement at a factory seam. This may seem like a rather intrusive repair but you need to look past what you would have done in the past.

If you decided to section this part, are you confident that your repair would withstand a rollover the same way it was originally designed? Was the part meant to transfer energy or start to absorb it? Did you strengthen or weaken the part, if so, how will that affect collision energy management? These types of questions need to be asked every time when considering how to repair a vehicle. If in the end the decision is made to fix the vehicle without a vehicle maker repair procedure, then the full burden falls to those who decided to repair the vehicle without any documentation.

Top Ten Vehicle Specific Questions

Hyundai Does Hyundai have a sectioning procedure available?
Kia Does Kia have a sectioning procedure available?
Chevrolet Does Chevrolet have a warning against sectioning when there is no procedure?
2014 Jeep CherokeeIs there a procedure available for resetting the active headrestt?
BMW Can I-CAR send me BMW repair procedures?
Hyundai Does Hyundai have part replacement procedures available?
Honda What does Honda say about repairing damaged airbag system wiring harnesses?
Mercedes-Benz Can I-CAR send me Mercedes-Benz repair procedures?
Honda What does Honda say about straightening front lower rails?
Subaru Do you have to replace a front passenger airbag on a Subaru even if the airbag did not deploy? The repair information seems to indicate that it should.

Top Ten I-CAR Specific Questions

What does I-CAR say about using a recycled quarter panel assembly that includes the inner, outer, and reinforcements?
What does I-CAR say about straightening a kink?
Can I-CAR General Sectioning Guidelines be used?
What does I-CAR say about the decision to use recycled parts?
What does I-CAR say about repairing damaged door intrusion beams?
What does I-CAR say about replacing suspension parts in pairs?
What does I-CAR say about repairing damaged bumper reinforcements?
What does I-CAR say about repair tolerances?
What does I-CAR say about using recycled airbags?
What does I-CAR say about repairing damaged crush boxes?