I read that John Eagle story. Sad. but I have 2 things to say about it
1) In the story, was something about State Fraud (OK, State Farm, I have my reasons for not being happy with them, as a customer of theirs-- nother story) putting pressure on the body shop to "control costs" and how the insurance company can override factory specs and procedures "by not paying the bill" Why would State Fraud not have been held at least partly liable in that case? They are driving the process and procedures by trying to drive everyone to "go cheap" and put lipstick on pigs so to speak... haven't we heard enough, about their demanding "similar" aftermarket parts instead of OE parts and the lawsuits of a few years ago relating to that? (also in the name of "fixing it cheap")
I would rather go to a junkyard and get say a good used OEM fender or bumper, than to use some of the aftermarket crap body panels on the market today. They don't fit right, the body lines "don't quite" line up, as don't some of the mounting points/// and as years have gone by, the OEMs have done more than enough in thinning out the metal used in body panels.... they DON'T need any help from the aftermarket, in thinning out panels....
and 2) a Honda Fit?? Cmon now.... not like that tiny little go cart would have had any hope of standing a crash vs a pickup truck, even if it hadn't been for the previous repair, the owners of such tiny cars should be at least partly liable because of their choice of "wheels" in the 1st place.
I mean its unfortunate what happened to this guy..... but nobody held a gun to his head and told him he had to buy a micro mini car, way smaller than even a "compact" car. Back in the day A bodies were "compacts, there's enough metal in an A body to build at least 2 Honda Fits. For that aspect of laying fault I think the victim should bear at least some portion of blame in that case. I don't think that he would have fared much better, if any, had he been in a Fit that had previously never been wrecked or otherwise damaged, and was exactly as it left the factory when new.
On the panel bond; my son has a 99 Dodge V10 powered, 2500 4wd. he got a pile of reciepts with it, from work done by a PO.... several of them for patch panels, Panel Bond and paint; the truck looked pretty decent 1-1/2 years ago when he got it. This truck is cab and a half with the back "1/2 doors" that open suicide style. the back doors apparently have at least partial skins on the bottoms, and stick out like a sore thumb as it looks like they slathered the panel bond on much like Bondo would be. When he got it the rockers and bedsides looked perfect. this is the 2nd winter he has owned the truck. Last spring, we noticed rust popping on the bed in weird places. Looks like right where they would have cut the wheelwell arches to replace with bedside repair panels. You can now see exactly where the panel bonded seams from having replaced those bedside wheelwell arch panels sometime in the truck's past. It looks awful. so for me? I have to say NO way to panel bond.
We also know someone that panel bonded quarters on a 64 Galaxie. That car looks AWFUL now, though it looked great when the job was initially done. so for me, I'll weld new sheet metal in when need be, no "panel bond" for me!
State Farm was dismissed from the suit. There was no proof that SF told the shop to do what they did. For the sake of discussion, let's say that they did, though. It's still the shop's responsibility to repair the vehicle to OEM specifications, using OEM procedures. If an insurer pressured a shop to deviate from OEM procedures, the shop has several steps they can take, including involving the customer. That's why SF was dismissed, and the shop was held liable. IMO, the people who worked on that car and oversaw the repairs belong in prison.
Also, you can try to blame all you want on the fact that the car was small, but people who know far more about the dynamics of an automobile collision stated unequivocally that the energy load path was changed by bonding the roof instead of gluing it. With that being the case, a similar result could've been expected on a larger vehicle as well. In fact, it may have been worse in a larger vehicle, given the increased weight adding to the impact with the pole.
