ABSTRACT
The first step in dealing with crush is to distinguish “contact” damage from “induced” damage. As the name implies, contact damage results from contact with another vehicle or object, and generally exhibits surface disturbances in the form of scratches, scrapes, sheet metal folds with the ridges pressed flat, paint removal, or transfers of paint or other material from the crash partner. Induced damage does not exhibit such evidence of contact, but is deformation associated with, or induced by, a contact that does not touch that area of the vehicle. Both contact and induced damage figure into the assessment of crush energy absorbed by the vehicle.
