TECHNOLOGY
MISSED CALIBRATIONS adasThink report unveils stark calibration statistics
The rise of ADAS, our failure as an industry, the stakes involved, and how to change it BY ALLISON ROGERS
A
dasThink recently unveiled its industry whitepaper revealing that 88 percent of calibrations are being missed in Canadian collision repair facilities. According to the whitepaper, 85 of 100 estimates analyzed did not contain an entry for an ADAS calibration. The 100 estimates identified only 15 ADAS calibrations out of 122–bringing the total ADAS calibration rate down to 12 percent. To put it another way, about 88 percent of ADAS calibrations are being missed. “We know two things: that ADAS calibrations should be a relatively common occurrence, and that right now, they’re not,” said the company. “The question is why.” In 2016, 20 major automakers pledged
to include automatic emergency braking (AEB) as the standard by the 2022-23 model year. As of December 2020, half of those automakers have met that promise, with a further three standing at 90 percent of new models produced with AEB. Further, OEMs are consistently working on incremental improvements as they aim to reach Level 2 through Level 4 technological applications, as well as developing additional ADAS ‘comfort’ features, like surround-view monitoring. “The big picture: there are a huge number of vehicles on the road with ADAS right now,” wrote the company. “The collision industry is repairing a huge volume of vehicles that need to be recalibrated, but the industry isn’t
30 COLLISION REPAIR COLLISIONREPAIRMAG.COM
fixing them. Over time, vehicles will get more complex, and ADAS calibration requirements will multiply.” If Canadian collision repair centres fail to take initiative on performing proper advanced driver assistance system calibrations, there could be serious consequences not only for the business, but for the consumer. A mere degree of misalignment in ADAS sensors can result in total failure of the systems. What does a single degree of misalignment look like in the repair shop? The bracket for the front radar is about 10cm wide, which means that if one edge of the radar is allowed to protrude more than 0.8 mm past the other edge, it will be more than one degree misaligned.
