Metal shop training: Hello, Lasers and Sonar. Goodbye, Body File and Pick.

Roy Bonner calls them "the hobby lobbies." The owner of Dally's Body Shop in Mount Vernon, Wash. for the past 13 years, Bonner stays in close touch with the nearby trade schools. By "hobby lobby," he means students who take metal shop courses because they want to fix their own cars.

"You know," he says. "They want to mold in the door handles or install electric locks. Things like that."

Such dabblers may quickly find themselves in over their heads, especially if they get beyond the hammer-and-dolly phase of the course work, because repairing today's vehicles requires a lot less elbow grease and a lot more brainpower than it did in the old days. Structural repairs of modern automobiles involve computerized measuring devices in which laser systems send light beams to targets, sonar sends sound waves to microphones, and robotic arms send information to a calculator that determines the exact three-dimensional location of measuring points. Some electronic systems also have the ability to measure point to point, or compare the undamaged side to the damaged side of the vehicle. Other systems can diagnose suspension angles or problems.

Obviously, the student who graduates from today's post-secondary technical school with an associate degree in autobody repair has to be comfortable with computers and mathematics. "The body file and pick have pretty much been replaced by the dent puller and other devices," says Bruce Evenstad, vocational instructor for Bellingham Technical College in Bellingham, Wash. At least one study indicates that about 25 percent of recent graduates move directly into management positions.

The Unibody Debuts

The widespread adoption of unibody construction in the early 1980s forever changed autobody repair. The unibody is designed to absorb, rather than resist, damage. The independent frame, which had been the industry standard for years, featured a body that was bolted onto a frame. In unibody construction, each panel is connected to the next, allowing the collision energy to flow throughout the vehicle. It's not uncommon to find that a front-end collision results in movement-and damage-in the roof or quarter panels.

With unibody construction came three-dimensional measuring systems and fixtures, which replaced tape measures, tram gauges and centerline gauges. From this, the age of computerized dimensioning dawned. All of a sudden the metal shop had to deal with crush zones, pinch weld flanges and other intricacies of this new phenomenon from automakers.

Repairing unibodies was so demanding that it drove many bodymen out of the industry, says Kim Helgeson, vocational instructor for Wyoming Technical College in Laramie, Wy. "We lost a lot of people because they just didn't want to learn a whole new way of working on cars," he says.

What's more, the advent of unibody construction was largely responsible for the creation of the I-CAR, the preeminent educational organization in the industry. Ironically, says Jason Bartanen, I-CAR technical writer, some technicians seem to have forgotten how to repair the old standard, independent, full-frame design. "With the popularity of SUVs and pickups," Bartanen says, "we get more and more questions on how to repair full-frame designs."

Plastic, Aluminum

Much of I-CAR's course content is generated from such calls. Bartanen estimates that the technical service number receives five to 20 calls per day. In addition, many people in the industry call someone on the I-CAR staff directly with their questions. About 60 percent of the calls are from shops, while the rest come from insurers and instructors, he says.

Working with plastics and aluminum are the current challenges for many metal technicians, Evenstad says. "SMC (sheet molding compound) body plastic is becoming more popular, and so are thin, high-strength metals such as aluminum. With plastics, you have to make sure you clean them really well before working on them."

As for aluminum, it's not nearly as forgiving as steel. Pulling, heating and welding aluminum present an entirely new set of problems. "It's a major challenge," Evenstad says. "Aluminum isn't as easy to straighten as steel. You have to be careful in welding it because heat affects aluminum a lot more than steel. When steel turns a bright red, you can keep working it. With aluminum, bright red means it's too late-you've burned a hole in it. In fact, if there's a large dent in aluminum, the recommendation is to discard it and replace it with a new part."

Tardy and Absent

Another problem, Helgeson says, is finding students who really want to learn. "Most of our students are here to work," he says, but he has noted a disturbing increase in tardiness and absenteeism. Wyoming Tech has strict rules regarding class attendance: Students must be in their seats at the beginning of each day's four class periods.

"When I started here in 1986, 75 percent to 90 percent of our students had perfect attendance for the entire six months of the school year," he says. "These days I'd say it's down to about 40 percent or 50 percent."

He finds that the majority of his graduates initially opt to become painters. "There's more glamour there, and they can see the finished product," he says. "But for whatever reason, a lot of them change their minds within a relatively short time and go into the metal shop."

It can be argued, of course, that bodywork is more critical than refinishing. A bad paint job merely affects appearance. A mistake in a structural repair can adversely affect crush zones, resulting in movement toward, rather than away from, occupants, or it can cause the failure of an air bag. Either scenario can mean severe injuries or even fatalities.

Despite all of the technology available to today's shop, it still takes a craftsman with a good understanding of collision damage characteristics, common sense and proper training to put the wrecks back to specs. Below is a list of sources that can help with proper training.