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Based on automotive concerns related to global warming, CO2 emissions, safety and fuel efficiency, a trend to use High Strength Steels was stablished in order to meet these concerns and enhance the Body In White (BIW) performance. The usage of Press Hardened Steel (PHS) on the BIW is greatly broadcasted by the automotive industry, however OEMs should consider other important aspects for the vehicle lifecycle, such as repair and serviceability in the occasion of vehicle collision. This paper addresses a repair procedure that meets regular performance characteristics. The study was based on the conditions available on emergent markets dealers to perform an optimized repair. This procedure ensures the proper serviceability of PHS parts on BIW systems and supports the usage of High Strength Steels technology in today’s emergent market vehicles.

Adhesive bonding has gained a lot of popularity on the automotive industry on recent years. The technology has helped OEMs to build lighter vehicles by enabling the joint of dissimilar, lighter materials as well as joints that otherwise could not be welded or bolted together due to the lack of machine and operator access. It has also seen widespread usage to enhance crash performance, due to its ability to distribute stress uniformly and absorb energy. Past test reports had shown that adhesive bonding may have a poor performance when used on Zn-Fe (Galvanneal - GA) coated steel sheets, as the superficial coating layer may delaminate from the base steel, not allowing the adhesive to perform properly. The objective of this paper is to analyze the performance of adhesive bonding on GA coated steels when utilized alongside weld spots.

Nowadays, meeting the increasing vehicles’ body structure performance requirements without affecting the vehicles’ mass has become a challenge for OEMs. To do so, automakers are deploying new and different sorts of materials combinations on the Body structure. It is known that the usage of high strength steel stamped parts, such as Press Hardened Steel (PHS), in specific Body structure regions, may reduce the need of local reinforcements or further parts, allowing the vehicle to reach the desired performance level while avoiding mass increase. One of the most common methods used to join PHS parts and cold rolled stamped parts is spot welding. This paper studies alternative joint methods between PHS parts and low alloy sheet metal stamped parts, both zinc coated, when spot-weld application is not feasible due to specific body structure joints constructions.