Calibration: The Misinformation Continues

By Tara Taffera

If you are invested in the health of your auto glass business you undoubtedly have kept your eyes and ears on the pulse of what’s new in the industry—and that includes the need to perform recalibration after replacing a windshield that has advanced features. This isn’t anything new—this publication, and other sources specific to the auto repair markets, have been in-forming their readership of this for years. While you may not want to calibrate due to the headaches that come with it, it’s a necessity.

When I see something like this posted on social media—an actual post—from a reputable auto glass shop: “No need for recalibration. We do not unplug your camera,” I cringe.

I am sure you then wonder: do I really need to be doing this? Yes, you do.

I don’t fault auto glass shops for posting information like this. May-be they haven’t encountered problems by not performing recalibration. Maybe someone they respect told them that if you don’t unplug the camera you don’t have to re-calibrate. Experts continue to tell AGRR magazine that yes, you still need to recalibrate—even if you don’t unplug the camera. Why? Be-cause even if the customer leaves your shop and all the advanced technology continues to work properly, that doesn’t mean it will continue. It could take a few weeks for the equipment to stop working.

Since misinformation does still exist, we decided to recap some of the facts on recalibration from various experts in the field.

During a presentation at Auto Glass Week 2018, Sean O’Malley, senior test coordinator for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, made reference to the strong need for recalibration because if the camera is mounted back onto the windshield and it is slightly off, it can affect the lane departure warning signals, as well as the sensor to enable the vehicle’s breaks.

Let’s look at a recent blog by auto glass expert Bob Beranek, president of Automotive Glass Consultants, and AGRR blogger who posed this question. Should every new install with ADAS be re-calibrated (or at least checked), or only if things don’t seem to be working accurately? “As I’ve said in previous posts, even if the camera or LIDAR is a millimeter off, it can cause big differences at the reference point,” says Beranek. So the answer is yes, the vehicle needs to be recalibrated.

This topic is so important that not only the did the Auto Glass Safety Council™ (AGSC) add calibration language to its Standard last year, but also formed a committee to continually evaluate Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) to ensure the Standard re-mains up-to-date in this area.

Let’s all work together to dispel the misinformation when we see it. As always I look forward to hearing from you on this and other topics. Send me an email at ttaffera@glass.com, and for more on this topic see the feature article beginning on page 26.

To view the laid-in version of this article in our digital edition, CLICK HERE.