Rocker Panel

A rocker panel is the long body panel located below the doors of a car between the two wheels on the side of a car. When you open a car door the panel below that you see is the rocker panel in short. The rocker panels supports the doors of the car and are moulded in such a way as to protect the chassis of the car from pebbles flying off the tyres and hitting the underbody. Rocker panels have to be very sturdy for impact protection. In the event of a crash if the rocker panel bends or cracks the occupants in the passenger cabin are in danger of injury, because of this the rocker panels are designed to send impact energy from a crash around the passenger cell to designated crumple zones.