The Hidden Dangers
The following is from my book “Signs of a Wreck.” After seeing and reading the following, it would be very wise to have your vehicle inspected after repairs. All the vehicles below were repaired at an auto insurer’s recommended repair facility or the auto-body shop allowed the auto insurer’s adjuster to dictate how the repairs were to be performed. You can also see what body shops that perform unsafe repairs under the link Unsafe Repairs.
Splash Shields: Hidden Dangers
What may be behind the splash shield may cost you, your family or your friends a life!
I am going to show you the hidden dangers that can remain after a body shop makes repairs. These types of repairs are the ones you do not want to have any part of. I was inspecting the repairs made on a 2007 Acura MDX for its diminished value. This Acura MDX had more than $12,000 in repairs made to the front-end. After removing the front lower splash shields, along with the right and left fender splash shields, I found a rolling disaster. The front lower uni-body frame rails still had damage to both sides—they HAD NOT BEEN repaired.
2007 Acura MDX
The photo below is a portion of the right front uni-body frame rail. Look closely to see if you can find the damage. The large hole on the left has buckled inward, and there is a tear in the uni-body frame rail on the right. The complete right uni-body frame rail should have been replaced—not repaired!
The left lower uni-body frame rail also should have been replaced. Look closely and you will see the buckle in the uni-body frame rail. Had this Acura MDX sustained a second front-end impact, the uni-body frame rail would have failed to collapse as designed by Honda/Acura. As a result, the air-bag sensor would not have responded as designed and may sense the impact as a soft impact. Then it may have deployed the air bags too late or not at all.
Left-Side View of Uni-body Frame Rail Buckle
Underside View of Uni-body Frame Rail Buckle
The circles in the photo below are factory spot welds that CANNOT BE DUPLICATED by body shops. Many body shops have a STRSW Welder (Squeeze-Type Resistance Spot Welder), buy cannot duplicate the same type and size weld as the vehicle manufacturer's robotic welders can. STRSW welders are generally limited primarily to exerior panels such as door skins, roof panels, quarter panels and the rear body panel. Yet they may be used to weld other panels if "recommended" by the vehicle manufacturer.
The next alernative is "GMA" (MIG) plug welding. I am not going to go into much detail about GMA (MIG) plug welding other than to say that, with three days of adequate training, for eight hours a day, anyone who is not physically handicapped could learn how to plug weld.
In the photo below are some of the scariest man-made plug welds I have ever seen made to a structural part. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) would not be giving this particular technician their seal of approval on these plug welds.
This is a close-up of plug welds made through the entire front end of this Acura MDX
The Acura MDX repairs were made under the owner's collision policy by the recommended repair shop of his auto insurer. To make a long story short, the owner demanded a re-inspection of his Acura MDX by his auto insurer. After the auto insurer representatives re-inspected the vehicle, they declared the Acura MDX a "total loss." The sad thing is that someone else will be riding in this Acura MDX sometime in the future.
Interior Trim Panels: Hidden Dangers
What is behind the interior trim panels could cost you, your family or friends their life!
Interior trim panels can hide disastrous body repairs, too. The following two photos are of a 2003 Toyota Highlander that I inspected for a diminished value assessment. When I reviewed the repair estimate of this Highlander, I knew it was going to be a mess. I removed the right side trim panels to find structural damage on the inner front pillar, badly in need of replacing.
The photo below shows the severly damaged right-front inner pillar that the body shop was paid to replace but did not.
After seeing the condition of the right-front inner pillar, I then removed the seats and trim panels on the right side of the Highlander for a more thorough inspection.
The center post repair was unbelievable! Remember, this is a structural part of the vehicle. At the weakest point, the body shop technician sectioned the center post's outer, center and inner panels, replacing them with only a small portion of the posts rather than the whole parts, as required. Look closely between the areas of the "red lines" and you will see this "repair." With this type of faulty repair, if the vehicle were involved in another impact, it's possible that the right side could collapse faster than designed by Toyota, possibly causing the side-impact airbags not to deploy in time-or at all-endangering the person riding in the right-front and right-rear passenger seats. The body shop purchased the Highlander from the owner after a lawsuit was filed against them. The scary thought is that someone could be riding in it right now.
Quarter Panel Wheelhouse - Hidden Dangers
As I have shown you, splash shields, interior trim panels and other trim panels will hide poorly repaired or replaced structural parts. The 2005 Lexus 330 had hidden dangers after it was considered “repaired.” I found that the left quarter panel had been “glued on” around the “mating flanges” of the quarter panel and outer wheelhouse panel. The Toyota/Lexus and Honda/Acura Motor Companies clearly state that “the quarter panels are not to be glued or adhesive bonded; they are to be welded on.” Gluing or adhesive bonding is considered “re-engineering the design of the vehicle’s structural integrity.” Yet many auto body shops throughout the U.S. continue to glue quarter panels in place.
(See Vehicle Manufacturer’s Statement, page 73, Toyota/Lexus; and page 72, Honda/Acura, on Adhesive Bonding).
In the two photos below, you can easily see the glue oozing out around the quarter panel and outer wheelhouse mating flanges.
The photo below is an example of how it should look around the quarter panel wheel opening with factory welds applied.
When I removed the wheelhouse inner-liner of this vehicle, I found the outer wheelhouse still damaged. This is a structural panel, and it MUST BE "restored back to the original shape and form for structural integrity and crashworthiness." In the event of another rear-end impact; this outer wheelhouse will collapse faster than it should, according to the Toyota/Lexus design. Look closely at the photo below around the green circle, and you will see the damaged outer wheelhouse panel.
The photobelow is where the black glass seals to the quarter panel. When the repair technician replaced the left quarter panel, he made only six welds to it instead of the 11 factory welds made by Lexus, standard for the same area. The dark areas you see near the black glass are "weld burns."
While inspecting inside the doorjamb of this Lexus, I counted 15 of the repair technician's welds against 22 factory welds made by Lexus. The repair technician is probably completely unaware that this Lexus will not react as designed in another rear-end crash after he unwittingly re-designed it.
In the photos below are more weld burns. In the right lower photo, I marked the holes that needed welds with a black arrow. The dark gray color that you see is bare metal.
Underside Uniformity
All vehicles have their own distinct uniform appearance on the underside, from front to rear. The factory undercoating and seam sealers are applied in a uniform fashion. The underside is generally painted the same color as the outside, but with a flatter finsh. Very few body shops attempt to match the underside of a vehicle after repairs. The "quick fix" for the underside of the vehicle by most body shop technicians is to using an aerosol can of black undercoating, to get the vehicle out the door.
The photo below is the underneath-side floor plan of the 2005 Lexus 330. The original underneath pain color is flat gray and white from the front to the rear of this Lexus.
Here is a clear example of the lack of uniformity performed by a repair technician. The 2005 Lexus 330 had a portion of the left rear frame and the entire trunk floor pan replaced. The repair technician sprayed black undercoating on everything from the rear suspension to the back of the trunk floor pan. The small amount of white paint on the trunk floor pan came from the painting of the rear-body panel.
The repair technician who worked on the Lexus tried to cover up his poor-quality work, but others didn't. The photos below show work performed by other auto body technicians, who did not even attempt to cover up the mess they created, probably assuming no one would look!
I will repeat myself here: Repair techs love to hide or try to hide their sloppy repairs with black undercoating.
Frame Repair Disasters
All frames, whether they are uni-body or full-frame vehicles, MUST BE RESTORED back to the original shape and form! When they are not restored back to their original shape and form, then their "crash worthiness" is seriously COMPROMISED!
The photo below is of a 2007 Honda Accord right-rear uni-body frame rail. The auto-body shop did not completely repair all of the frame damage. The black vertical line between the white round dots indicated a "buckle" in the uni-body frame rail. The other black vertical line located between the two white vertical lines is where the auto-body shop replaced a "section" of the uni-body frame rail. As with our previous examples, if this vehicle were to sustain another rear-end collision, this frame rail would not perform as designed by Honda engineers and could possibly "collapse faster," causing other systems to not react or fail due to the buckle.
The photo below is of the 2004 Toyota Tundra I discussed earlier. The Tundra sustained damage to the left side, just under the left-side turn-signal lamp, (location of impact indicated by the black arrow) with the cost of repairs just under $3,000. The owner of this truck requested a re-inspection at my facilities of his truck by the insurer who was paying the claim. While I was inspecting the repairs made by the auto insurer's recommended Toyota body repair shop, I just shook my head.
With the hood raised, I could look down onto the left front frame rail and see that the frame had collapsed in front of the engine cross-member. THIS IS NOT REPAIRABLE! This frame is not repairable due to inaccessibility to the inside of the frame rail. The damage MUST BE restored to its original shape and form to be crashworth. After I made my inspection report, rather than paying out for "diminished value," the at-fault-party's insurer declared the truck a "total loss."
This frame damage is one of the main reasons why the body shop could not realign the upper body correctly. The photos below are of the left frame rail; green markings show where the frame damage is.
Damaged Left-Side Frame Rail
The photos below show a 2004 BMW 330Ci that the owner was fortunate to photograph while it was on the frame machine.
The owner had been curious about why it was taking so long for the body shop to do the repairs. She went to the body shop to check on her car, saw her BMW 330Ci on the frame machine and took photographs of it. She captured a real KODAK moment. The body shop's frame machine was not the required machine specified by BMW for unibody frame realignment. The body shop's special clamping fixtures was a set of chains to secure the BMW 330Ci in place!
The below photo is a view of the left underside suspension front-lower control arm of this BMW 330Ci, secured by a chain. The right side was secured in the same manner.
The photo below shows the Anchor Hook wedge into the upper portion of the Strut Tower attached by a chain. This is not a proper way to secure the Strut Tower for uni-body re-alignment.
This body shop caused more than $3,000 in damages to this BMW 330Ci while attempting to repair it. The owner of the body shop was sued for fradulent repairs and damaging the BMW 330Ci during the repairs.
Now after seeing all the above, are you sure the repairs made to your vehicle are Crash Worthy? Do you care about yours and your love ones lives? Diminished Value is one thing; still your life means more than money. It is in your best interest to have the repairs made inspected. Over 1.5 million dollars worth of vehicles have been declared a total loss and/or purchased back from the auto insurer or body shop after a CSI-NC inspection of the repairs. Call CSI-NC about inspecting the repairs made to your vehicle for peace of mind.