No More “Totaled” Cars
Totaled- An insurance term that describes the condition of a damaged car when the cost to repair the damage exceeds the actual appraised value of the vehicle.
Urban Dictionary
For many buyers having a car “totaled” may be good as it will provide for them a replacement vehicle. Overall, however, this occurrence in vehicles results to higher insurance rates for drivers. Because of this, car manufacturers and insurance companies are working hard to try and reduce the chances that cars will be “totaled”. A look into the recent developments and innovations that car companies are coming out with, are just amazing. Presently, these developments have successfully lowered the cost of various auto parts and components and may further offer cost savings in the coming years.
New innovations to further improve a car’s strength during a collision include the following:
- A new center by Ford in Inkster, Michigan now works closely with design engineers and auto insurers early on in a vehicle’s production process. Potential repair issues are already identified which are then used to refine the designs. This helps cut the costs of repairs at dealerships and repair shops in the future. With this info, vehicles can also be returned to their pre accident condition easily. Data can also be gathered earlier which will prove beneficial during crash and durability testing.
- Re evaluation of new materials like ultra-high-strength steel and boron, in terms of the strength it gives vehicles versus the cost after a collision.
- The development of new front and rear-frame-section-kits which allow repair or replacement of a section of a frame after a crash. This means that in case of a collision, specific parts of the vehicle’s frame can be replaced instead of having to replace the entire frame. Early estimates on partial frame repairs was already able to lower the cost $2000 less compared with full frame replacements.
- General Motors revealed collaboration between their engineers and their Collision Repair Test Center four years before a vehicle is introduced, at the start of vehicle development. "Some of our people work on the structure, and some on the exterior, and we collaborate with the design engineers to work out whatever improvements might need to be made over the previous version of a component or assembly. The goal is to make sure that the vehicle has the most cost-effective repair strategy," according to Dave Bakos, GM’s director of global after-sales mechanical engineering.
- GM also did an evaluation of their lighter weight auto frames which are more difficult to repair compared to cold-rolled steels. Though these are very high strength, new welding, sectioning and attachment strategies were developed by the car manufacturer to reduce repair costs.
"New technologies are developing pretty rapidly and each time a new one comes along, it’s our job to develop new ways of repairing the various structures, components and parts that incorporate those new technologies — and do it in a way that maintains the vehicle’s after-crash structural integrity, and keeps costs down for the vehicle owner” says Ford’s Bonanni.
