tinyurl.com/8fbp6 -> www.latimes.com/classified/automotive/highway1/la-hy-wheels19oct19,0,5354861,print.story?coll=la-class-autos-highway1
Maybe just throw it away BMW's new techniques and rules restrict what repair shops can do, and baffled insurers are junking the vehicles. Some critics think manufacturers are beginning to make throw-away cars. By Ralph Vartabedian Times Staff Writer October 19, 2005 If you hear talk about things such as rivets, epoxy adhesives and aluminu m structures, you might guess the subject involves airplanes. But in this case, we are talking about the front ends of recent BMW Serie s 5 and Series 6 cars, which are constructed with many of the same techn iques you might find at the Northrop Grumman F-18 assembly plant in El S egundo. BMW touts the vehicles for their remarkable handling, fuel economy and el ite engineering, but critics of the designs say they are impractical, vu lnerable to minor accidents and difficult to repair the way BMW recommen ds. The technology is another step in a much broader auto industry trend that is making collision repairs ever more costly, a kinder way of saying ma nufacturers are building throw-away cars. It means that more cars are to taled when they have relatively modest damage, particularly if they are more than five years old. Although BMWs can certainly be repaired, it requires a degree of sophisti cation and cost that may be unprecedented. BMW will certify auto body technicians only if they are employees of BMW dealerships, using BMW-approved parts, tools, adhesives and rivets. Thou gh independent shops can buy equipment and get training, they are not al lowed to say they perform certified repairs, BMW's official seal of appr oval. "It is a game," said Don Feeley, owner of three independent body shops in Riverside. "Absolutely, they are shutting auto body shops out of their business." The BMW system, code named the Grav 60, was introduced in the 2004 model year. It features an aluminum firewall, which separates the engine compa rtment from the interior, and frame rails that extend forward, all rivet ed and glued to the rest of the car's steel structure. When the cars com e out of the factory they are built to a tolerance of 1 millimeter, abou t the thickness of a dime. The entire front structure weighs just 100 pounds, meaning the vehicles h ave a nearly perfect 50/50 weight distribution between the front and rea r wheels, said Jeff Kohut, BMW's paint and body business development man ager. "Go drive a car with a steel nose and yo u can tell the difference cornering, braking and turning." But one important question is what happens when your prized BMW gets kiss ed in the real world. With steel frame cars that are robotically welded at the factory, a body expert can put the car on a rack and bend it back into shape. Under BMW's guidelines, any bending on the front end is verboten. An acci dent that deforms the front end by more than 1 millimeter requires the r eplacement of the main front-end structures. Because the engine, transmi ssion, suspension and body are all connected to those structures, it is a labor-intensive process. What's more, BMW specifies technicians can use only certain specialized t ools, such as rivet extractors and rivet guns. Kenneth Zion, an auto bod y instructor at El Camino College and an independent collision consultan t, says a shop can spend as much as $100,000 to fully outfit itself for BMW repairs. Zion, who has learned the system and will introduce the tec hnology at El Camino, said the new system is unprecedented in how tightl y the manufacturer is controlling the repair process. It is so tight, in fact, that the repair and insurance industries are goi ng a little nuts. A claims adjuster for AAA, who has examined damaged BMW cars with the Gra v 60 technology, says there is no question the repairs are more costly c ompared to those of a steel unibody. "Certainly, people are alarmed," said the adjuster, who asked not to be i dentified because he would be handed his head if he were named. "An iden tical car made with steel parts would definitely be cheaper to repair. O n one half of the BMW, you can have no straightening." Feeley, among others, says BMW is overblowing the difficulty of repairing the vehicles. "The manufacturers have always said they are building thi ngs that can't be repaired, and we have figured out how to repair them," he said. The broader trend is alarming the auto body industry, which is composed o f thousands of mom and pop shops. "Definitely, some of the auto makers want their certified shops or dealer s to be the only ones approved to do repairs," said David McClune, execu tive director of the California Auto Body Assn. "If a shop has properly trained technicians and equipment, our position is they should have the opportunity to do those repairs." Kohut said, however, that about 1,000 technicians have gone through BMW's two-day training course for Grav 60 repairs, about two-thirds of them f rom independent shops. Even though they are not certified, BMW accepts t he fact that they can perform adequate repairs. Although he rejects the idea that repair costs are higher on the Grav 60 system, Kohut said insurers are struggling to understand the technology. "We have found the insurers are unsure of what to do with a car, so they declare it a total loss," he said. "They weren't sure it would be safe, so they send it to the salvage yard."
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