Ultra-high and advanced high strength steels find their application in the production of vehicles, for the manufacturing of car body components, especially of those that are crash safety relevant. Production related influences may affect the process stability and cause the loss of quality that can be particularly critical for spot welds with high quality requirements. Despite the high accuracy of the manufactured components, process related variations of geometry may cause gaps between the welding partners. For welding, these gaps must be bridged prior to turning on the welding current. During the welding process of such elements with gap, the preload results in specific thermal and mechanical loading of the joint that can cause imperfections in the welded joint, e.g. cracks. This article gives a review on hot stamping process as well as on previous investigations in RSW of AHSS and UHSS with production related gaps. The present study shows the influence of production related gaps on process stability, and changes in microstructure and geometry of spot welds with gaps. Based on experimental investigation, an effect of welding time, coating and production related gaps on the quality and mechanical performance of RS-welded joints is discussed.