It's official: wrong welding is fatal

A UK crash test has finally proved what repairers around the world have suspected for a long time: that incorrect welding can cause fatalities.

An experiment in the UK has achieved the most convincing proof so far - largely because the difference between good and bad welding has widened dramatically as high strength steels have been increasingly used in car bodies.

Sunday Mirror motoring columnist, Quentin Willson, arranged for the test - an industry first - with well known car researcher, Thatcham, at its laboratory. Two Vauxhall Vectras were used, one repaired to manufacturers' standards while the other was deliberately badly repaired with a central door pillar welded using the wrong tools and materials.

A crash test rig was fired broadside at 30mph to replicate a T-bone accident at road junctions. When results were measured they showed that in the Vauxhall Vectra welded to industry standards the driver would have come out unscathed in a 30mph collision. But the Vectra with badly-welded bodywork sustained a massive 70 per cent more cabin intrusion, with the driver probably dead from internal injuries. Under impact the poor spot welding tore apart, the sill buckled and the door pillar collapsed. The incorrectly welded car's driver would have suffered 20 extra G forces - probably fatal. Yet the other driver would have had only minor injuries.

The story went on to say that, while more than 5.7 million body repairs were done in the UK last year, just 300 of the 4,000 workshops were up to the industry "kitemark' level of manufacturer standards - with many unaware of how newer car models should be repaired.

For more, please go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8104948.stm