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Originally Posted by thegit
The bond is not too resistant regarding shear forces the tub may encounter in certain crashes, so there are also divots securing the panels.
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It's my understanding that the rivets are there mainly to hold and align the parts during assembly and curing. 99% of the strength of the joints is from the bonding.
As for how long they will last, well... I also seem to remember from information provided when the Elise was first created (over 10 years ago), that in accelerated "aging" tests, there was no degradation in the bonding over time. The bonded aluminum chassis will far outlast a typical steel chassis - even in dynamic loading properties.
There may be things to worry about with the Elise, but chassis strength and/or lifetime is not one of them.