By CRM Staff
Newport Beach, California — August 16, 2017 — The latest Guild 21 conference call, featuring Dan Black, Global Service Support Lead for Body/Chassis/Paint of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), revolved around FCA vehicles and body on frame repair. Black hit on a variety of subjects in this area, including FCA vehicles equipped with full frames, body on frame design characteristics, repair methodology and vehicle specific scenarios.
“Our transferring pins are quite unique in the assembly process, they’re quite innovative. If you can imagine a vice grip, and when you are opening it up, as you do the opening action it lowers the pin and then when you close it, it lifts the pin. So when you’re working in the plant it provides precise placement. That way we have consistency and it enhances our quality,” Black said, when diving into assembly plant processing information.
The audience attending the conference call were asked whether or not they believed that heat is permitted when repairing FCA vehicles. 40 percent of the audiences thought yes, 60 percent said no. Black shared FCA’s position statement: “Do not use heat during the collision repair process unless the subsequent components will be replaced after straightening,” he said.
Black had a few interesting points to make in terms of FCA repair methodology. “While some salvage parts may appear equivalent, there can be dramatic differences in the design and functional characteristics, which cannot be determined by a visual inspection,” he said. Continuing, he added: “We do not endorse the usage of salvage components because we do not know what they have been subjected to over time … We’re always vested in replacing the components with OEM parts distributed by FCA because we can always ensure the vehicle will perform as designed if another impact results.”
Proper repair procedures for FCA’s RAM pickup truck and Jeep Wrangler were described in detail with accompanying photographs of the steps. Black also discussed the step-by-step repair process a repairer should adopt, depending on the nature of the vehicle’s damage.
The next Guild 21 conference call, titled “Inventing the Next 3 Years of Collision Repair,” will take place on September 14. For more information on the upcoming call, please email guild21@verifactsauto.com.
To register for the call, please click here.
