Proving Safe Repair – The Thatcham Method

The primary aim of Thatcham’s Safe Repair Project is to validate repairs on vehicles where there are known substantial differences in panel joining methods from the processes used in manufacture. Particularly significant are the repair methods for key structural areas like front chassis legs or complete B-post reinforcements, where safety is paramount and the correct repair method intrinsically important.

The three vehicles chosen for the recent project were the Vauxhall Astra H, the Vauxhall Vectra C and the Volkswagen Golf V. The Vauxhall Astra H had the front chassis leg replaced, whilst the Vectra and Golf each had the B Post replaced. All three vehicles were repaired according to escribe, Thatcham’s repair methods product, in each case requiring similar structural repairs, but very different and specific repair techniques.

Having undergone repair each of the three vehicles were then impacted in accordance with the appropriate Euro NCAP (European New Car Assessment Programme) test using the standard side and frontal impact protocols to collect and assess the impact data.

All three vehicles performed extremely well with the repair proving robust enough to withstand a severe impact and the resultant impact data from the Anthropomorthic Test Dummy, used in the tests, coming well within acceptable test variation limits.

Andrew Miller, Director of Research at Thatcham said, “This project is another example of where Thatcham is leading the field in research relevant to repair. Our researched repair methods are now proven to restore the safety capability of the modern high Euro NCAP scoring vehicles, thus providing reassurance to the consumer, repairer and insurer.”

After this successful project, Thatcham will now continue to validate specific structural repair methods, reporting the results back to vehicle manufacturers and working closely with repairers, insurers and manufacturers to provide the Kitemarked repairer with a safe repair.