ADAS, what’s all the fuss about?
This month we thought we would try and explain in simple terms why we need to take ADAS seriously.
Advanced Driver Assist Systems or in short ADAS is becoming more and more popular on modern-day vehicles and in fact, on all Euro 7 vehicles there will be some form of ADAS.
These systems include things such as:
- Adaptive cruise control
- Lane departure warning
- Adaptive front lighting
- Blindspot detection
- Automatic emergency braking
- Head up display
- Rear collision warning
And more are being added as time goes on.
So a lot of these systems are critical safety systems and that isn’t going to go away.
Has it affected you?
It probably has, but you may not have noticed it.
Anybody who has done suspension work, windscreen replacement, wheel alignment or tracking as commonly called, or even cambelt replacement, clutches, gearboxes etc will all be affected.
I’ve come across many people now just burying their heads in the sand, many have done cars with ADAS and had no issues and that may be so.
But…
If you’re replacing a belt on the front of a car and the front end needs striping down the chances are you will need to remove a radar unit either in the lower bumper or behind the badge, ensuring it is in the correct position when replacing is like pinning a tail on a donkey blindfolded.
If you’re just doing a windscreen replacement the camera image could now be distorted.
Doing an alignment will change the thrust line of the vehicle thus changing the calibration in the cameras and radars.
The facts on this are simple: if these systems fail because the job hasn’t been completed correctly. You could be liable!
We always insist on having the wheel alignment completed, Tyre pressures checked, sensors cleaned, tread depths as even across an axle and fault codes inspected and cleared BEFORE any calibration of the ADAS.
Okay, so there are many different makes of ADAS but be careful you could end up paying a fortune in the long run.
Here at Supalign, we have two systems we offer.
- Autel ADAS which is ideal if you specialised in one or two brands of cars and being cheaper than most returns great value.
- Digital ADAS ideal for multi manufacturers as no calibration boards to buy or store as all stored electronically, it is quicker as the image will move into position on the screen, more accurate as it doesn’t allow tolerances so the reading you put into the tool will be converted to the correct size of calibration board.
Worth the investment?
Oh yes! Right now almost all insurance companies are paying for the wheel alignment and the calibration of ADAS whether it needs it or not because they don’t want the liability if something fails once the repair work has been completed.
