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GMC Canyon, Chevy Colorado Body Structures Are Tried and True

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Engineers did extensive testing to ensure that GMC Canyon and Chevy Colorado body structures were made perfectly, with all pieces lining up

Engineers did extensive testing to ensure that GMC Canyon and Chevy Colorado body structures were made perfectly, with all pieces lining up.
©GM

The 2015 GMC Canyon and Chevy Colorado have taken the truck market by storm this year, quickly becoming the frontrunners in a segment that they hadn’t even competed in just months ago. This success stems all way back from the humble beginnings of production, where, among a number of other things, the GMC Canyon and Chevy Colorado body structures were tested to ensure the perfect fit of individual parts. This is how GM attained what it’s calling the trucks’ “perfect bodies.”


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At Wentzille Assembly, the engineers utilized mockups of the interior and exterior of the trucks, running over them with a laser-scanning system to locate any mismatches or conflicting parts, which are bound to happen when parts from 20 suppliers are assembled in pieces at five different plants.

The process proved beneficial, as engineers identified, for example, an A-pillar between the windshield, headliner, and instrument panel that did not quite fit. After the problem was spotted, the engineers were able to tweak the production so that everything would fall into place, and then applied those tweaks to the actual production process for real models that would eventually come through.

“The perfect body process helps everyone by quickly identifying the source of a particular issue and giving us guidance on what needs to be done to fix it,” explained Mark Deterding, engineering manager for Magna Interiors. “We discover potential issues before they can affect the vehicle’s quality. We identify solutions and we use them to make sure our solutions work. It’s an additional step, but we’re happy to spend time with these perfect bodies because they mean safer, quieter and more reliable vehicles for the customer.”


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