Method of determining the acceptability of the press contacting of a terminal using reference data

A method of determining acceptability of a press contact terminal including press contact blades which are separated from each other when a wire is inserted between the press contact blades so that a core wire of the wire is electrically connected to the press contact terminal, the method comprising the steps of:

• storing a reference data showing a relationship between displacement of the press contact blades when the wire is brought into press contact with a normal one of the press contact terminal and contact loads between the press contact blades and the core wire;
• inserting the wire between the press contact blades of the press contact terminal as an object to be inspected;
• measuring the displacement of the press contact blades caused by the insertion of the wire;
• and
• determining the acceptability of the press contact terminal as the object to be inspected by predicting the contact loads between the press contact blades of the press contact terminal as the object to be inspected based on the measured displacement and the reference data.