If you have been in a collision, your car's frame may have been damaged. Due to the materials that unibody frames are constructed from, they can sustain severe damage even in low-speed collisions. Sometimes the damage done to a car's frame is difficult to detect, and can remain unnoticed. However, driving with a damaged frame makes your car less safe — a damaged frame can't protect you as well as one that's perfectly formed. To help you understand the purpose of your car's frame, how it becomes damaged in a collision and how to repair it, here's what you need to know.

What Is a Car Frame?

Modern cars have unibody frames that are made of light and pliable materials such as carbon fiber and aluminum. They're designed to bear most of the impact in a collision — you may have heard of modern cars having crumple zones, which deform and collapse when your car is in a collision, helping to reduce some of the momentum of the crash. The lightweight materials used in unibody frame construction mean that they'll take quite a bit of damage, even in low-speed impacts. However, the damage that your frame suffers serves an important purpose in keeping you and the passengers in your vehicle safe during a collision.

How Can You Tell if Your Frame Is Damaged?

Frame damage can cause your wheels to go out of alignment, causing your car to pull slightly to the left or to the right while driving. Sometimes a damaged frame will prevent your car doors from closing fully, especially if you were in a side impact crash — you may notice that you need more force to close your car door or it may take multiple attempts to close it before it finally latches and locks.

If you suspect that you have frame damage, you may also want to have a friend examine your car from the front while you drive slowly forward in a parking lot. It's common for frame-damaged cars to appear slightly skewed from the front, and it's easier to spot a slight diagonal difference in your car's frame when compared to the straight motion of your car's wheels.

However, sometimes frame damage is very difficult to spot on your own. Even if you're in a low-speed collision that does not cause any visible damage, you should take your car to an auto body shop in order to have the frame inspected. Auto body shops have computer software that can take measurements of your frame and determined if it has been bent in any way.

Why Does Frame Damage Need to Be Repaired?

Driving with a damaged frame is a safety concern. Since the damaged area has already been deformed, you're missing a layer of protection that helps keep you safe in a collision. If you're driving with a damaged frame and get in to another collision, you're at a higher risk of suffering serious damage.

If you have been in a collision and suspect that your car's frame is damaged, take your car to an auto body shop for a computerized inspection. If your frame suffered damage in the collision, it can often be repaired — the same software used to inspect unibody car frames can also tell auto body shop technicians which adjustments they need to make to the frame in order to restore its structural strength.