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Chevy Silverado design cuts crash repair costs


Gorehamj

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SilveradoRepair.jpg

John Goreham
Contributing Writer, GM-Trucks.com
3/23/2015

Having recently toured a large Chevrolet repair facility in Mass., this writer can personally attest to the fact that GM does design its vehicles so that accident repair costs will be minimized. The owner of the repair facility showed me how GM's front and rear clips on many vehicles have been simplified, and made less expensive so that repairs are not only less costly, but faster for the repair shop, thereby putting you back on the road in your own vehicle sooner.

 

Today Chevrolet released an info-graphic that points out six of the ways that GM engineers designed the Silverado to be more cost effective to repair. Yes, this announcement is timed perfectly to scare Ford F-150 shoppers into thinking aluminum repairs will cost them time and money, but the truth is the Ford F-150 and many other commonplace vehicles have used aluminum body panels for a decade or more. Here are the six things Chevy thinks makes the Silverado easier to repair than competitors' trucks:

 

Front Frame Rail Section
Chevy says the leading section of its from frame rails may be removed or repaired making it easier to deal with frame damage.

 

Structural Front Fenders
Chevy designed the front fenders to unbolt in one larger piece, rather than an outer skin and inner supporting piece. This makes font end damage faster and simpler to work on.

 

Bond-On Body Panel Procedures
Rather than weld, some outer panels can be repaired using construction adhesives.

 

Pre-prepared roof panels

Chevy pre-drills holes for studs and accessories on its repair roof panels saving repair time.

 

One-Piece Body Side Outers

Chevy said in its announcement "If damage occurs to the outer panels of the cab, technicians can order a complete body side outer, shipped as a single, complete assembly, allowing technicians to cut out and replace only the damaged area instead of the entire assembly."

 

Flexible Bed Repair Options

Chevy designed its pickup beds so that owners can repair just the bed or bed box sides. Not all repairs require a full bed box replacement.

SilveradoRepair.jpg

SilveradoRepair.jpg

SilveradoRepair.jpg

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Don't see how replacing the entire fender assembly is going to be less than changing the component that is beyond repair. For example, if the front fender is made up of 4 different parts, is the entire assembly cheaper than one or two of the parts that make up the assembly? If buying the 4 parts that make up the fender(I just made up the number, I have no idea how many parts make the fender) is noticably higher than the assembled fender then there is something very wrong in the system. Someone is making money by doing it this way.

 

I have yet to see a manufacture design anything for service beyond the assembly plant. Chances are good that the complete fender they mention is how GM receives that part from outsourcing for use on the assembly line. Making it one part means less time to assemble, and less employees to do the assembly. The reduced cost is enjoyed by the shareholders, not the customers.

 

This does however bring up a question. What gauge are the Ford aluminum panels? Given the lighter weight of aluminum, can Ford now use a heavier gauge panel, and still be less weight? I saw a show recently where they beat on the rear quarter of a F150 with a small sledge hammer. They it a couple of good hits, caused less damage than I expected, but was still a lot of damage to repair. The final repair cost was either double or triple what a steel repair would be. They did not replace any panel, they fixed the one it came with. If the panels are a heavier gauge, that alone can reduce the amount of repair needed.

 

Not sure why GM would put all the holes in the roof panel for all the accessories, doesn't that mean they put the holes in for clearnace lights on the 2500/3500 regardless of whether the truck had them in the first place? Same goes for OnStar antenna.

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I will not argue any of the points given, they are all good points to consider when repairing a vehicle...

 

I have to ask (being the pessimist) how much of these things were less to do to for repair issues, but a matter of a means to cut cost in production or just from a means of production standpoint? I know for years car companies have been spinning things to their favor... The most blatant is "child safety windows" When all it was is they could not roll the window down all the way because of the wheel well, so they give it a spin to make it seem like it was "intentional" when it really was not.

 

Or the fact of replacing a larger piece like the entire assembly of the fender being less expensive than just the outer skin separate from the inner skin.. seems like they could just charge more for it.

 

John

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Lots of good ease of fixing crash damage will be, when they can't even get them down the road right to GET into an accident in the first place!

 

I see lots of posts of folks "left for dead" on the side of the road in their brand new $50k truck .... :nonod:

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I'm in Canada there's nothing you can do during assembly of a GM vehicle that would make it cheaper to repair. A bed SKIN!!!!, dealer cost is 1000$. Power lock mechanism, all 4 broke, 200$ each at dealer. I didn't buy them in Canada. I purchased them for 1/2 the cost including shipping, from a gm dealer in Texas on ebay.

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Yikes ...

 

I feel your pain. When my truck was just 2 years old, I backed into a sapling - about 4" in diameter - at LESS than walking speed. The tin can construction of the bed required an hour on a FRAME MACHINE to straighten the box!! It creased it right above the wheel well, and destroyed the tail light & tailgate mount. I disassembled the bumper, & tailgate, & removed the lens for the body shop to save some cash. I bought all the hard components that were bent (chrome half, right side, bumper braces, the Z71 decal, and the frame that goes the entire width of the box) & installed those when the body work was done - all told it was still $2,200!! :throwup:

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Lots of good ease of fixing crash damage will be, when they can't even get them down the road right to GET into an accident in the first place!

 

I see lots of posts of folks "left for dead" on the side of the road in their brand new $50k truck .... :nonod:

 

I think that is the "walk home mode" they have built into the pcm. I have yet to see a limp home mode in any vehicle I have owned, but have had the walk home mode a couple of times.

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"bond-on" panels?

 

So GM has resorted to gluing their cars together now?

 

Well that's a bit concerning.

 

Having been inside the front of my 2014 tho.. the thing is built like a tank.. the amount of bolts is flat out unnecessary.

 

Interesting that the rest of it is clipped taped and glued on. :lol:

 

It may be less labor to repair, but GM charges so much for parts on these trucks its absurd. The reason they cost so much is because they're charging so much for parts.

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95% of all car makers use adhesives in their cars! Uni body and panels. However, to call it glue is somewhat of an understatement.

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95% of all car makers use adhesives in their cars! Uni body and panels. However, to call it glue is somewhat of an understatement.

 

It is actually 100% of the auto makers that use adhesives. Any vehicle with a windshield has adhesives involved.

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It may be less labor to repair, but GM charges so much for parts on these trucks its absurd. The reason they cost so much is because they're charging so much for parts.

 

GM does not pay itself list prices for the parts it uses to build their vehicles. I think you will find that auto manufacturers do not make anyway near what you think they do on each vehicle. All manufacturers have at least one vehicle in their lineup that sells for less than it costs to produce the vehicle. I read recently that GM is still losing approx $49k on each and every Volt they sell when development costs are included in the cost to manufacture, as it should be. What I just cannot understand is GM says that the loss per vehicle will shrink as more are built and sold. How is that even possible? Every car they sell adds $49,000 to the loss column, which will drive cost to produce up, not down. The only way you can reduce the loss is to increase the profit. They are near $50k away from even making a penny on the car, so they can never reduce the loss.

 

It used to be that for the consumer to go and purchase all the parts from GM needed to build a new vehicle that it would cost 3 to 4 times the list price for that same verhicle already assembled and painted. GM recovers some of the loss per vehicle by using the profits from the parts department sales.

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GM does not pay itself list prices for the parts it uses to build their vehicles. I think you will find that auto manufacturers do not make anyway near what you think they do on each vehicle. All manufacturers have at least one vehicle in their lineup that sells for less than it costs to produce the vehicle. I read recently that GM is still losing approx $49k on each and every Volt they sell when development costs are included in the cost to manufacture, as it should be. What I just cannot understand is GM says that the loss per vehicle will shrink as more are built and sold. How is that even possible? Every car they sell adds $49,000 to the loss column, which will drive cost to produce up, not down. The only way you can reduce the loss is to increase the profit. They are near $50k away from even making a penny on the car, so they can never reduce the loss.

 

It used to be that for the consumer to go and purchase all the parts from GM needed to build a new vehicle that it would cost 3 to 4 times the list price for that same verhicle already assembled and painted. GM recovers some of the loss per vehicle by using the profits from the parts department sales.

Actually what you may not understand is there are multiple parts to the price of the car.

1) The most obvious price is the cost of materials & parts, things like Iron, Glass, plastic, etc.

2) Labor to put it together

3) Electricity & Gas for the factory

4) Taxes and other costs for the building

5) Other misc expenses, labor, trucking, etc...

6) The less obvious is the actual cost of the engineering and tooling.

7) Pay the EPA for testing

8) Pay the Govt for crash tests, AND the cost for so many cars, Probably around 5 or so. I know for a 1991 Firebird & Camaro models, they used 13 test vehicles for each line (total 26 vehicles).

9) Then you have warranty claims to worry about (they figure this out before going into production)

10) The least obvious is the costs for just general business, such as the large 5-tower in downtown Detroit on the River.

 

 

For simplicity sake, let us assume the following

The dealer sells the vehicle for $40,000

The dealer only paid $35,000 for the vehicle after insentives & such)

They invest $16,000 per vehicle for Parts & materials,

$4,000 per vehicle for labor

 

Easy math

$40,000 (customer pays)

-$5000 ( Dealer profit)

-$26,000 (parts)

-$4000 (labor)

$5,000 (profit)

 

That means that they have a profit of $5,000 per car.... But wait there is more!!

 

They have to figure they invested at least $100,000,000 into the tooling & Engineering for a vehicle, + EPA & Crash standards All of those other up front costs, plus the legacy costs of the Union benefits, etc etc...

 

Unfortunately no one likes to work for free, and on the surface just to break even they would have to sell 20,000 vehicles to break even... but there is so much more that is wrapped up into a car.

 

What the $50K away from making a penny on the car is at current production, When they double the total volume the price per vehicle drops... This is the exact reason why for several years you had literal "clone" cars, that they literally used all of the same pieces and parts, but with a new badge. They may appear the same, but in most cases, like the difference between a Chrysler Town and Country and a Dodge Caravan, the Chrysler is a quieter vehicle, and they are a bit nicer, so they cost more.

 

This is why your typical chevy is much cheaper than a Buick, even when they are made on the same line. They make more Chevys, it will take less time to recoup their typical investment.

 

Unless someone is in business, some of this is hard to wrap your head around because there are a lot of costs that are not obvious.

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It used to be that for the consumer to go and purchase all the parts from GM needed to build a new vehicle that it would cost 3 to 4 times the list price for that same verhicle already assembled and painted. GM recovers some of the loss per vehicle by using the profits from the parts department sales.

 

in 1992 If you purchased every part for a new Firebird one at a time, it would have cost you $150,000

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