Select below to read other Cost Savings Apps.
M6 DUO-TAPTITE® fasteners were previously used to attach the front fenders to the fender rails of two GM models. In 2004, the fender rail steel material thickness was changed from 1.5mm to 1.0mm. The seating torque used in the assembly plant for this application was 8Nm and was carried over when the thickness of the rail was reduced and stripping resulted. As an interim measure, seating torque was reduced to 4Nm to avoid stripping.
REMINC was made aware of the problem and suggested changing to a FASTITE® 2000™ fastener. Several tests were run by REMINC creating several reports. The results recorded a thread forming torque of 2.0Nm with a failure torque of 18Nm, generating a drive to fail ratio of 9:1. The assembly torque of 8Nm was well within the performance capability of M6 FASTITE® 2000™ screws.
Replacing the DUO-TAPTITE® fasteners with an M6 FASTITE® 2000™ screws in the thinner steel resulted in an average strip failure torque of 18Nm, compared to 8.7Nm, an improvement of 107%!