3.2 Vehicle body

• The functions of a vehicle body
• Types of vehicle body (saloon, station wagon, convertible, van, pickup, bus)
• Interior body parts
• Exterior body parts

• describe the functions of a body in a vehicle
• explain the types of body used in vehicles
• identify the interior body parts of a vehicle
• illustrate the exterior body parts of a vehicle
• appreciate the importance of the body in a vehicle

“Why is the body important in a vehicle?”

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1. What a vehicle body does
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   The five jobs a body performs - enclosing, protecting, sealing, shaping the air flow and carrying the fittings - and why a repair must restore all of them.
2. Crumple zones and the safety cage
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Why the ends of a body are designed to collapse and the middle is designed not to, and why strengthening a crumple zone is dangerous.
3. Carrying loads and sealing out the weather
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Everything the body carries, and why every opening in it is a place where rain, dust, noise and heat try to get in.
4. Body shape and the air
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Why a smooth shape uses less fuel at speed, why air resistance rises so steeply with speed, and what that means for roof racks and open windows.
5. Saloon and hatchback
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   The three-box saloon with its sealed boot, the two-box hatchback that opens the whole back, and what each is good for.
6. The station wagon
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   A saloon with the roof carried to the back, giving a long covered load space with car comfort - and what it costs.
7. Van and pickup
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Two goods-carrying bodies: the van that encloses its load and the pickup that leaves it open, and the trade-off between them.
8. Bus and matatu bodies
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Bodies built to carry as many people as possible, and the Kenyan practice of building bodies locally onto a bought-in chassis.
9. Convertibles and special bodies
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Why a body without a roof must be strengthened elsewhere, and how special bodies are shaped entirely around one job.
10. Choosing a body type
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Three questions that settle almost every case, and how to weigh the answers when they conflict.
11. The exterior body panels
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Naming every panel and pillar correctly, and why a mechanic ordering parts or writing an estimate must use the right names.
12. Glass, lights and trim
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    The two kinds of vehicle glass and why each is used where it is, and the job each lamp does.
13. The interior body parts
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    The dashboard, seats, trim, headlining and carpet - what each does, and why trim is not merely decoration.
14. What bodies are made of
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Mild steel, aluminium, plastics and glass fibre - what each is used for, what it costs, and why rust is the enemy of a steel body.