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Automakers generally recommend not to weld structural parts after a vehicle crash, and these should be replaced as a whole part in case of a crash event. Sectioning of these members is also not recommended and use of the repair manual is mandatory in case of fracture of such parts. However, repair shops may not adhere to these instructions and use incorrect repair procedures on these members which would modify their strength properties. This study analyses the impact of welding structural members in a vehicle like the A-pillar which use Ultra-High Strength Steels (UHSS) for reducing the weight of the vehicle and improving the crashworthiness of the structure. The research conducted in this paper highlights the differences in the crash performance of a repaired vehicle as opposed to baseline injury values for the vehicle.

The analysis of the vehicle crash performance is of great meaning in the vehicle design process. Due to the complexity of vehicle structures and uncertainty of crashes, the analysis of vehicle crashworthiness is generally depending on the researchers' experiences. In this paper, different deformation modes of energy absorption components are studied. More specifically, the bumper, crash box, the front longitudinal beam and the engine/firewall have different frequency characteristics in the deformation process. According to these characteristics, it is possible to identify the performance of each component in the crash process of assembled structures. To achieve this goal, the crash response of the passenger cabin is decomposed by the time-frequency transformation. Different frequency components exist mainly in a specified period of the crash process.