Sept. 12, 2016—In response to requests from the collision repair industry, Honda and Acura announced updated guidelines for welding and sectioning for different tensile strength steels. The changes apply to all vehicles and supersede previous information.
Guidelines were last updated in 2014.
Revised welding guidelines for Honda and Acura state that MAG butt welding is now an approved repair method for steel parts up to and including 780 MPa. MAG plug welding is now allowed on 1,500 MPa steel parts in select locations only as specified in the BRM.
Weld-through primer guidelines and high-strength MAG welding wire guidelines have also been updated.
When determining to do a full or partial replacement of a body part at factory seams, Honda and Acura say that full replacement is preferred except when it may cause unnecessary or excessive intrusion into the body structure.
Due to high-strength and ultra-high-strength steel materials with varying thicknesses and strengths used in body design in Honda and Acura vehicles, outer body and floor panels may be sectioned as necessary. But depending on damage, steel parts with a tensile strength of 780 MPa or less may be section only if sectioning is done in a single-layer are of the part, multi-layer internal steel reinforcements and stiffeners are not cut, and load bearing areas are not sectioned.
Click here for the Honda and Acura bulletins.
The bulletins were posted by I-CAR on Sept. 1.
