6 minute read
To Calibrate or Not: What a Dangerous Question!
CRASH! A typical fender bender once required a fairly basic repair, but today’s vehicles aren’t that simple – advancing technology has created ADAS, the ultimate co-driver. These systems’ ability to process information faster than humans prevents accidents, but if they are not properly scanned, calibrated and repaired after a collision, the repercussions can be catastrophic!
“ADAS calibration isn’t rocket science; it’s much more complicated than that!” quipped George Lesniak (Autel), who emphasized that it’s also a vital component to ensuring a safe repair.
“ADAS systems save lives…but once they are repaired, they have to be repaired the right way in order to do their jobs properly,” Chuck Olsen (AirPro Diagnostics) stressed.
That begins with pre- and post-repair scans. According to the October 2021 “Who Pays for What?” survey on scanning and calibrations, conducted by the CRASH Network and Collision
Advice, 85.2 percent of shops pre-scan “all” or “most vehicles;” that number increases to 92.9 percent for post-repair scans.
But when it comes to calibrations, which I-CAR defines as “aiming, module setup, relearn, zero-point calibration, initiation or calibration is a required step following the removal, installation and/or repair of many safety and driver convenience system parts,” a different story is unfolding, and although the exact metrics vary from source to source, the overall message remains the same: auto body shops aren’t calibrating every vehicle that requires it.
“Sixty to 65 percent of vehicles that should receive a calibration didn’t, so when we ask where the industry sits on this, the numbers speak for themselves…We’re behind!” claimed Frank Terlep (Auto Techcelerators)
“The industry is missing about 85 percent of ADAS calibrations. That is, only about five percent of jobs have an entry for a calibration, when the number should be much closer to 33 percent,” shared Nick Dominato (Repairify). “If you’ve got a model year 2020 vehicle, there’s about a 50-50 chance that it requires at least one ADAS calibration.”
Unfortunately, less than a third of estimates for those vehicles included a line item for calibration, according to Repairify’s analysis. CCC Intelligent Solutions’ 2021 Crash Course Midyear Report indicated fewer than 17 percent of estimates on current year or newer vehicles included an appraisal line for “calibration/reprogram/ flash.” And although the majority of respondents to the 2021 New Jersey Automotive Industry Survey reported they perform an average of two calibrations on each vehicle, just 14 percent stated they run as many calibrations as is required by the OEM.
“If you’re not following OEM repair procedures when you work with ADAS, you’re not calibrating the vehicle – you’re mis-calibrating it!” Dominato insisted.
And the demand for that skillset is only going to grow with the government’s mandates related to vehicle safety forcing OEMs to include ADAS systems in virtually every new vehicle being manufactured. The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS)
[NATIONAL] NEWS
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indicated that 60 percent of registered vehicles on US roadways were equipped with at least one ADAS feature in 2021.
Yet, only 30 percent of collision shops are capable of ADAS component replacement due to complexity, expense or perceived lack of demand, reported Chris Gardner (Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association), expressing concern about the number of shops “working on [ADAS-equipped] vehicles without staying upto-date on what’s changing. And that can be dangerous.”
AASP/MA Vice President Matt Ciaschini (Full Tilt Auto Body & Collision; West Hatfield) recognizes that vehicles need to be calibrated, which is why his shop utilizes “a program that scans all repair orders and informs us which recalibrations are required on every vehicle we repair. This is a must-have for all shops in our industry that want to make sure they are repairing vehicles correctly and safely. Although 75-80 percent of the cars we work on require some type of recalibration, most cars don’t tell you that they need to be recalibrated through scanning or DTCs; that information has to be sought through the OEM procedures.”
With a few exceptions, Full Tilt Auto Body & Collision sublets all calibrations to the dealer because “the space required for recalibration is way too large for us to dedicate to a permanent recalibration bay,” Ciaschini explains. “We use our local dealers for all recalibrations, towing vehicles to the dealership to ensure it is operating correctly before our technicians drive it.”
Although the shop can perform in-house recalibrations on items like seat weight sensors and dynamic seatbelt inspections, “getting insurers to recognize that we are capable of performing them and then compensating us for our time” poses a challenge, according to Ciaschini. “We perform those recalibrations every time they are required but are denied compensation over 50 percent of the time. Insurers also reject any markup for sublet recalibrations; for the most part, insurers will only reimburse us for what we paid the dealer, but imagine selling a product for what you paid in any other industry!
“The cars don't recalibrate themselves, nor do they set up their own appointments at the dealer or arrange for themselves to be towed to the dealers, yet most insurers blindly deny a reasonable markup to the sublet bill,” he continues. “Appraisers often ask, ‘Why do you guys send these cars to the dealer when no one else does?’ And that indicates one of two problems: Either shops really aren’t sending cars to be recalibrated when they should be, or they aren’t charging for it because they’ve allowed insurers to make them feel they are the ‘only ones.’ We cannot let them convince us we are doing too much because we follow vehicle requirements. They just pay the bill…We are the repairers; we are the experts.”
What’s the real story of calibrations? We don’t know…yet. We want to hear straight from the source – YOU! Please visit https://bit.ly/TGPADASpoll to share your thoughts in a brief reader poll. We can’t wait to hear from you!
PROTECTING CONSUMERS AND THE COLLISION INDUSTRY
MASSACHUSETTS
continued from pg. 8
of a controlling system. Our efforts to break the chains have been unrelenting. We must continue to rally together as an “ALLIANCE” and an industry to continue breaking the chains which have enslaved us for so long. We are just like any other retail business out there whose goal is to make a reasonable profit while being able to pay our employees a fair wage for their knowledge and expertise in a challenging and rewarding industry. The ability to pay employees enough so they can hold their heads high while they provide for their families. Pay a fair wage so that more and more of the talented youth in our vocational schools consider the collision repair industry as their chosen vocation. Breaking the chains is the only way we will accomplish this goal.
We can go from “learned helplessness” to “learned successfulness”... All it takes is knowing that you and your shop are worth it and making the decision to go for it!
When will you stop being a chain rattler and become part of the growing number of chain breakers?
PROTECTING CONSUMERS AND THE COLLISION INDUSTRY
MASSACHUSETTS
AASP/MA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR EVANGELOS “LUCKY” PAPAGEORG
can be reached at (617) 574-0741 or lucky@aaspma.org.
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