My friend and I (who both have xB’s) have noticed that the body panels of the car are very thin and dents easily. Case in point... both our xB’s have dents in the doors from someone opening their car door in to the side, but the impact was not hard enough to chip the paint or even leave a mark. Also, I noticed that all the body panels on the xB flex a lot, even if you push on them lightly.

It’s a great car but now I’m wondering if it has a poorly made body.
First the cheap paint job that chips easily and now this.

 

It doesn't seem any worse than any other econo car of this class, IMO. They're all made real thin.

If it's a cheap paint job that chips easily, how come it dented without chipping?

 

It's because of the shape of the body. if you push on the corner does it bend as easily? no, even though the metal is no thicker there. Curved body panels work like an arch, and are able to support more weight before bending.

 

I have a few scratches / chips in the paint (Drivers side door) but no dents where the cars have chipped my paint. The only place that has problems is where car door body and the door handles are. it looks very slightly warped when looking from an angle. This has occured at where all my door handles are. I'm lucky to not have any major dents that i really notice except those damn chips/scratches

 

I think it's just japanese cars in general. My 240 is a dent magnet. I swear every time I go out to my car, it has a new dent.

Rumor has it, the japanese buy all our recycled beer cans and use them to build the cars that they sell us.
Isn't it ironic...
...don't you think?

 

My 89 Supra Turbo was also a dent magnet hehe but i liked how the door was thick steel.

 

Ive had no problems...chips oh hell yeah though. Hondas are the worst ive seen of this though. My friends Civic is the most beat up thing from parking lots.

 

The bumpers and side skirts are plastic, the sheet metal is thinner to reduce weight and keep gas mileage up.

 

Really, all new cars have very thin sheet metal. Not just the Scions. As someone already mentioned, the panels are large and flat, curved panels tend not to warp as much owing to their 'arch'. Also, with that big expanse of flatness, the smallest dent sticks out like a sore thumb. there aren't MORE, jus tmore noticeable.

New Accords (and many are well over $30k) are dent magnets, they have matal just as thin as the Scion, no body molding and big flat panels. As far as NEW cars, I'd say Accord is the most common model seen.

Doing PDR (paintless dent removal) everyday I can tell you that as a ratio, you don't see many Scion/Toyota/Lexus in for repair. You get them, but HONDA (by far) and 'american' models are usually the most dented. Korean cars aren't even worth fixing usually - the metal is like paper and the paint cracks everytime you push on the metal with a PDR rod.

 

i don't know what yall are talking about, someone clipped my car and it didn't dint or take the paint off. I got their paint, on my car but it rubbed off because of the large amount of wax on my car.