Automakers and Tier 1 suppliers hate cross-threading, and for good reason: It raises the cost of fastening operations through increased rework or scrap. The good news for manufacturers is they can use specially designed thread-rolling screws to prevent this problem, which occurs when the threads of a fastener do not align with those of a nut or a tapped hole.
Interestingly, one manufacturer’s concern about cross-threading spurred the development of the first thread-rolling screw. In the early 1960s, General Motors advertised to fastener companies its need for a fastener that formed threads in heavy-gauge materials like a tapping screw. General Motors was convinced that such a fastener would prevent cross-threading.