Reports from auto-makers maintain that by the first two decades of the 21st century, there are at least 600 million automobiles in the world, without including load vehicles and collective passenger transports. Furthermore, the most optimistic forecasts, according to automobile production figures, anticipate that by the year 2030 this number could reach 1.2 billion- source [1595]


All of these vehicles originally incorporate in their bodies a bumper in the front part and other one in the rear, which clearly indicates that we are talking of some 2.4 billion bumpers, produced at a very high environmental cost because of the energetic and natural resources involved, as well as the time it would take for mother nature to get rid of them by biodegradation.


Fortunately and thanks these bumper plastic parts can be recovered and recycled in some way, the World has a very valuable resource to mitigate such an adverse effect: Bumper repair. An operation that accounts for more than 80% of the total automotive plastics repair industry which aims to restore and give new life to these accessories that may have undergone deterioration, damage or deformation as a result of accidents or incidents, collision among vehicles or external objects or simply, for the desire to personalize the appearance of the automobile through Tuning.


Bumpers are not regarded as safety parts but rather as cosmetic accessories although, sometimes useful instruments that car designers accommodate to esthetic requirements and whose refurbishment or improvement does not constitute any legal issue as it is allowed everywhere without restrictions.-source [1596]



Repairing a bumper, as any other automotive plastic part implies an important saving in terms of economical resources because by doing so, we avoid to produce a brand new piece with all the technological display it represents.Simultaneously, we mitigate the damage and the pressure on water, air and other natural resources as well as pollution in various forms.


It turns out also to be interesting to know that around bumper repair, a meaningful industry has been developed, which employs millions as each body shop or repair center makes use of this alternative before considering the substitution of damaged parts for new ones that consume thousands of tons row materials and a great many tools and specialized equipment.-source

Justification

The international automotive plastics repair manual, -source [1597] justifies the recovery through repair of these plastic components by the following criteria:

If the repairman or repairwoman is sure that he/she can make the repair job in a technical and successful way, and satisfaction will be accomplished by repair service provider and customer.

If safety is not put to risk for people and the vehicle. This includes safe working conditions in the repairing premises.

If the bumper does not show generalized damage as a consequence of the effect of fatigue (deterioration from normal use of the vehicle) in which case it would be advisable to consider the part replacement.

If repairing estimates are not too close to the price for a new spare. A customer warned around this circumstance may find more favorable to explore other alternatives. (Aftermarket parts, for instance)

If the repairman has time enough to execute the necessary operations such as resistance tests, proper fitting, measurements and so on.

And in general, if the repairman is sure that the repair job will pass all quality controls with acceptable conditions as far as functionality and presentation are concerned and provided it can be guaranteed with no limitations.

Tendencies

Car manufacturers are increasingly, prone to use polymer (plastic) materials in the making of vehicles of the new generation as substitutes for metal in body parts, since this change allows the incorporation of lighter and cheaper parts with the possibility of managing shapes and styles not imaginable with the techniques and materials used in the past.-source [1598]

Car designers find suitable and appropriate for their new creations affordable plastics. Among them we may find thermoplastics (plastics we may transform by means of heat) such as Polypropylene, Polyethylene, polybutylene, Polycarbonate, TPO, some types of Polyurethane and so forth. And thermosets (not affected by heat) as Unsaturated Polyester reinforced with glass fiber or carbon fiber in an epoxy resin binder.

Legislation

Since bumpers are not classified as active safety parts, authorities permit and some others even promote their repair by insurance companies, repair centers, and environmentally-oriented repair training institutions. All this aimed to lessen the high costs involved in fixing crashed cars. In addition the high cost of these accessories has motivated that more and more people consider repairing a viable solution particularly in third world nations where the price of these pieces reaches alarming and exaggerated levels.-source [1599]

Repair operations

From a practical point of view, and by means of various repair techniques people in the automobile industry try to fix anomalies and damage in bumpers in the following aspects:

The recovery of dimensional stability, (the ability for any object to keep its dimensions during the useful life) the shape, the fitting and the correction of damage in fastening mechanisms, (snap fits, bosses, supports, brackets, reinforcements etc.) deformation in the form of dents, bumps, gouges, cracks, misalignments, crooked edges, opened bolt holes, and painting or finishing.

If worse come to worst, even a no ” recoverable” bumper, can be reduced to get the most suitable material to fabricate new bumpers or at least to obtain plastic welding rods or small sections used as reinforcement to repair others.

Bumpers and ecology

The average bumper made of polymers from oil (polyolefines) weights some 3.000 grams and decomposition by bio-degradation no wonder; make take at least a few centuries to be achieved (let us think that a six-pack can ring a much thinner Polypropylene object than a bumper takes at least 450 years to decompose) –source Therefore, extending the useful life of any affected bumper represents a very intelligent option to save no renewable resources and at the same time, we, as car owners may help to reduce pollution and minimize global warming.


The technological display along with the energetic consumption that is required for us to afford acquiring a new bumper or any other automotive plastic may be summarized as follows:


Oil, the long path from the oil well to my car and motorcycle as transformed in to an automotive plastic piece.


1-exploration by mobil-shell-bp-oxy-repsol-petrobras-texaco-total-agip-elf-pemex-citgo-pemex-standard oil-pvdsa…

2-oil production

3-transportation- on pipelines-tankers by kockmus-newport-mitsubishi-kawasaki-g.e.-hitachi-eriksberg-sumitomo-daewoo-a.g.wesser…

4-refining

5-transportation

6-polymer production palletizing, packaging by dupont, G.E.,allied signal, uniroyal, dow-rohm &haas-amoco-bayer-ciba-3m-bp chemical-hoechst-phillips-celanese-union carbide-eastman-goodrich-shell-basf-goodyear-mitsui-exxon-firestone-mitsubishi…
7-transportation contained by moller maersk-mediterranean shipping-cma-hapag-lioyd-evergreen-cosco-hanjin-senator…

8-plastics design and production by textron-trw-valeo-plastics omnium-mensolit-mitras-peguform-daewoo-reydel-alcoa-bosch-koito-stanley-iki-zkw-visteon-rehau-polytec group-johnson controls-hella-delphi-faurecia…

9-plasctics transformation in machines by engel-battenfeld-gloucester-husky-demag-cincinnati-reed-prentice-toshiba-kautex-bekum-krauss-maffei-negri bossi-sandretto-netstal-sumitomo…

10-transportation

11-oem design overseas ckd-wholesale shipment by general motors-ford-daimler-chrysler-bmw-nissan-renault-mitsubishi-citroen-kawasaki-volkswagen group-honda-mazda-subaru-hyundai-land rover-toyota-volvo-peugeot…

12-transportation

13-dealer –service

14-car owner
(the one who can make the difference when it comes to either buy a new automotive part or repair a used one and by doing so, keeping the world from beginning again on top of the list)
from here, downwards, the right choice.

disposal (never in landfills)

recycling repair-reduction