Beyond What the Eyes Can See: Common ADAS Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

by Alana Quartuccio

The phrase “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” may be accurate in certain cases, but in the complex world of ADAS, it could not be farther from the truth! Because truth be told, these advanced driver assistance systems need attention – even if the damage is not visible to the repairer’s eye. 

Although these systems are not new, they are evolving and complexifying at accelerating rate. Yet many collision repairers still neglect to treat these systems if they don’t see a DTC code or believe a sensor was compromised in some form. That’s just one of the many misconceptions out there. As ADAS continues to filter its way into the collision repair universe, repair professionals need to open their eyes to what they are doing wrong, and start to perceive beyond what their eyes can see. 

Problems can begin with where one gets their information from. 

“First and foremost, just because there isn’t a light on, doesn’t mean ADAS calibrations are not required,” insists Josh McFarlin (AirPro Diagnostics). “Look at what was done to the vehicle and what the manufacturer says, and then evaluate what is needed. Don’t look to – insert Facebook group here – as your only source of expertise and awareness about what to do on the vehicle. I don’t want to suggest there is only misinformation in those groups, as there are some people who have a good handle on what they are talking about, but there are some who are way out in left field…or maybe not even in the stadium.” 

McFarlin has seen conversations in these groups where someone posts their struggles involving a calibration on a forward-facing camera after replacing the glass. A response will direct them to disconnect the battery before they start and leave the camera plugged in, hanging from its wires. After they replace the windshield, they don’t see any codes and question, “Why are we doing this?”

“It’s a fundamental misunderstanding of why the calibration is needed,” McFarlin says. “I think it’s because people look at the process and say, ‘Well, I’m recalibrating the camera, but I didn’t change the camera. So why do I need to calibrate it?’ But that camera is now looking through a new piece of glass, and maybe even more importantly, it’s looking through a different piece of glass. The clarity on that glass may be a little different. 

“It’s also attached to a bracket that may be installed on that new piece of glass a little differently,” he points out. “So the point of the calibration is to train the camera to see the world as mounted on that new bracket, looking through that new piece of glass that may have been installed a little differently as well. All those factors affect how it sees the world, and that is why you calibrate. Just because there aren’t lights on the dashboard doesn’t mean you don’t have to do the calibration.” 

What it boils down to is many shops and shop personnel are just not identifying all the ADAS components involved in a vehicle. “If you don’t identify the systems at the start, the process will just fall apart after that,” Frank Terlep (OPUS IVS) analyzes. “The industry is still behind on that understanding.” 

Pinpointing what needs to be done is not only critical toward a proper repair; it’s necessary in order to educate the vehicle owner on what needs to be done.

“If a shop does not properly identify a vehicle’s ADAS systems at the start, they can’t have the appropriate conversation with the consumer about ADAS,” Terlep notes. “You want to be able to tell them, ‘Hey, Mrs. Smith, you have these ADAS systems that may need specific calibrations, so your repair may take longer.’ Also the shop needs to explain it’s their responsibility to put the ADAS systems back to OEM settings. But this conversation has to happen at the beginning of the process.” 

It’s concerning to Greg Peeters (Car ADAS Solutions) that some repairers would risk putting cars back on the roads in unsafe conditions. 

“When the safety systems aren’t working correctly, they won’t perform the way they are meant to,” he explains. “Yet, some repairers are willing to send it on the road, putting people in danger, and that is the biggest mistake repairers can make on a vehicle right now.

“The second biggest crime is thinking they can solve the problem with a fly-by-night solution that happens to come around and provide a discount or something like that. It may solve an immediate problem, but there’s no way it is being done correctly, which is just about as bad as not doing it at all. So, now you have this false assumption that the safety systems were all restored and calibrated properly, but in fact, they were not, and there is no documentation that it was ever done.”

Peeters stresses that shops can’t afford to disregard the fact that they are ultimately responsible for any consequences that could occur as a result of a faulty repair. “No matter how you accomplish it, you are responsible. If you send it to a dealer, you are responsible. If you sublet the work, you are responsible,” he notes.

An absolutely essential component in the process, documentation goes beyond protecting the shop and helping to educate the customer. As Terlep points out, it also educates the insurers. “The insurance companies have the same problems that shops do. They don’t understand ADAS all that well, either, so you have the blind leading the blind. It’s really about knowledge and understanding.” 

Shops who are not embracing ADAS are likely also missing out on the opportunity it can bring to their businesses. “It seems to be gaining momentum; however, there are still examples of people seeing it as more of a nuisance than an opportunity,” McFarlin observes. “If you are looking through a glass-half-full point of view, opportunity can maybe sound like taking advantage of the system, but that’s not the point. The point is that it is work that needs to be done on the vehicle that you should get paid for and be profitable on. It is an opportunity.”

McFarlin says he’s been left scratching his head and wondering why some chose not to perform this work when there is documentation that supports that one can and should do so. “Are you not in the business of performing work on a vehicle to get paid for it? If you are, then why are you looking for reasons not to perform certain items? What’s your objective? There’s plenty of documentation that you can use to support the need for it to be done. Why are you looking for a reason not to do it if you’re doing it correctly? You should be making additional revenue.”

By 2030, the calibration business is expected to be a $3-to-$4 billion business, according to Terlep. 

“The typical mix of work for most collision repair businesses is vehicles five years or newer. Five years means 2018, 2019 and newer is the typical vehicle one has in their shop, which means approximately 40 to 50 percent or higher of the vehicles will need some type of calibration, so there is a big opportunity there. The number one problem is that 80 percent of these businesses – mechanical, collision or dealerships – don’t have the proper space, which provides an opportunity for someone to come in and do the work or for the shop to invest in additional space.” 

According to Peeters, bringing ADAS calibration work in-house is ideal because, “You control your own business by doing it yourself. You control quality, cycle time and costs. You are in business to control your destiny and your repair process, and ADAS is definitely part of that repair process.” 

Of course, adding calibrations to your business plan presents challenges as well. “Space and financial constraints may not make it accessible for all body shops to do so,” Peeters acknowledges. “It’s also an ever-changing industry. The equipment continues to develop, get more expensive, and larger. The accuracy required is getting more defined, the steps more intricate. It’s not getting easier. It’s continuously changing and evolving.” 

McFarlin recognizes how much expertise collision repairers need in order to work on vehicles.Therefore, many repairers are likely seeing ADAS as “just one more thing” to add to the list. 

“There’s all these things that they need to know and be good at, not to mention using the estimating system and so on. They have to research all those repairs and make sure they have the right parts and the right paint code. They need to have expertise in a lot of different things. I think part of repairers’ resistance is that they just don’t want to have to figure out another thing.” 

It results in shops sending the work to a dealer, calling in a mobile company or “standing by the belief that, because there isn’t a DTC code, I don’t have to do anything.”

Another hesitation may lie in not having to get into the ring with the insurers over ADAS costs. “If they do the work, they have to argue about getting paid for it. They may believe it has to be done, but they don’t want to get the tooling for it and don’t want to have to defend it. If they send it to the dealer, the invoice gets paid. That doesn’t seem to get challenged very much, so they’ll just send it to the dealer to avoid arguing about getting paid.”

Ultimately, it’s up to what works best for that particular business. “One must take a look at their business and make a personal decision to see if they want to take on this work,” suggests Terlep. “Then you have to go through a list of things to see what equipment is needed, what type of personnel training is required and what facility changes must be made. The shop needs to understand their own business, their goals and objectives going forward. It’s my opinion, but I honestly believe ADAS is the biggest opportunity I have seen in 25 years, and I’ve been saying that for about four years now.”

Also, it’s an opportunity that should be seized now as things will change in the future. “One thing people need to be prepared for is that it’s only a matter of time before the insurance companies start to put pressure on pricing which means the business model as it stands today will be different in the future because the revenue will be lower,” predicts Terlep. 

He compares the evolution of today’s vehicles to the original laptop that has been slimmed down dramatically since its original square box form. “The price was high, and they were big. Vehicles are going through that same stage, so we’re going to see more and more technology. It’s going to get smaller and more powerful, and it will become less expensive. I think it’s going to force specialization. I think you’re going to see more and more businesses get into the calibration/diagnostics business, as the ‘typical’ collision repair facility doesn’t have the knowledge.” 

Certainly, auto body repair facilities have much to consider when it comes to avoiding mistakes by knowing what they should be doing and how to best go about it in order to be proficient and profitable. Ultimately, the best fix for managing the ADAS calibration world is perhaps best summed up by Terlep: “Those who invest the time, money, energy and training will be fine. The ones who don’t, won’t.”

Want more? Check out the August 2024 issue of Hammer & Dolly!