Why Your Car Is Designed to Deform During an Accident

The modern-day car is designed to be as safe as possible and, crucially, to protect both the occupants and any third party unlucky enough to be involved. Most governments now mandate that these vehicles have "crumple zones" so that they deform easily and cause as little damage as possible to a hapless pedestrian. Yet this type of design can create problems for those who are responsible for fixing the vehicle in the aftermath. Why is a panel beater's job that much harder in the modern era?

Energy Dissipation

In order for a car manufacturer to pass government crash tests, they must make sure that certain parts of the car move upon impact. They must also ensure that the energy produced in the accident is dissipated through the chassis of the vehicle and does not enter the passenger compartment to any great degree.

Deformation

Of course, the energy has to go somewhere and more often than not the chassis rails themselves will also deform. This is an inevitable consequence of modern-day design, but it means that the vehicle will not handle correctly again without significant work.

Automotive Jig

However, the industry is well prepared for this. Before the panel beater can get down to the intricacies of their job, the vehicle will have to be mounted on to an automotive jig. The jig is essentially a heavy-duty frame that is connected to a hydraulic ram, and the technician will need to refer to the original specifications of the vehicle to guide them.

Perfect Repair

Typically, these measurements will be entered into an attached computer system, and the extent of the damage can be assessed. Once the technician knows how far out the chassis rails are, they will attach that part of the vehicle to the hydraulic ram. This work may require them to drill additional holes into the chassis at strategic points but once activated, the jig will pull the vehicle back into shape, to an accuracy of a fraction of a millimetre.

Crucial Work

This is a very important part of the repair job as, without this precise work, the vehicle would not handle properly thereafter. Now, however, the technician can move on to the more detailed work, beating or replacing all of the panels.

Your Next Move

If you've been involved in a sizeable accident recently, your vehicle may need to be "jigged" before anything else. Talk with the technician for their advice.

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