Safety Through a New Lens
By Linda Rollinson
2014 is only seven years in the rearview mirror, yet in many ways, it feels like a lifetime ago. The year 2014 was before the pandemic, before our vitriolic political climate, even before the play Hamilton premiered or Kim Kardashian appeared barely clad on the cover of Paper magazine. For the automotive industry, 2014 not only seems a lifetime ago—it was a lifetime ago, technologically.
Consider some of the automotive technological changes of the last decade. Vehicles now feature integrated navigation systems, and infotainment screens on the dashboard. They provide an auxiliary socket to laptops and Bluetooth connectivity, wireless equipment and more. Some models of the new Ford 150 truck sport an electric generator that can be used on the road or when the lights fail at home.
However, nowhere has the advancement been more profound than in the development and proliferation of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Adaptive cruise control, anti-lock brakes, forward collision and high beam safety warning systems, lane departure warning systems, traffic signal recognition and traction control all are examples of ADAS. Many of these systems use cameras that must “see” through the windshield and sidelites to function properly. The windshield then, acts likes like a big secondary lens for the camera. Change or modify the windshield and you have, in effect, changed the lens of the camera.
After replacement, the camera must be calibrated in order to function through its new lens.
Calibration after windshield repair or replacement is often a necessary safety step. It is vital to ensuring that the vehicle’s ADAS systems work properly. Glass just became a bigger stop on the road to safety.
The repair industry must adapt and meet these new safety challenges. That is why the National Windshield Repair Division is updating its repair standard, the ANSI/NWRA Repair of Laminated Auto Glass Standard, known as ROLAGS. The new ROLAGS 2 ANSI Committee will update the standard, taking ADAS into account. It will update procedures for proper windshield repair in light of ADAS and the cameras and other equipment that make it work.
In June, a group of industry professionals came together to begin work on the ROLAGS 2 Standard. They spent hours beginning to incorporate safety procedures and protocols into the ROLAGS Standard to update and modernize it and to account for this new technology. We all know what we want to accomplish, and there are always a variety of opinions on how to do so. They are all routed in safety and the ANSI process will insure that they are fair and transparent. Current members of the ROLAGS 2 Committee are:
Lenny Hennessy: AGIS
Deb Levy: AGRR Magazine
Keith Beveridge: Beveridge & Associates
Korey Gobin: Delta Kits
Jacques Navant: Don’s Mobile Glass
Gilbert Gutierrez: Equalizer Industries, Inc.
Brad Conley: GEICO Insurance
Aric Haarala: Glass Mechanix Solutions
Rory Most: Glass Technology Inc.
Shiloh Spoo: GlasWeld
Jay Bickford: NOVUS Franchising 2, LLC
Penny Ouellette: Orion Registrar, Inc.
John Payne: Paynes Auto Glass
Linda Rollinson: Superior Auto Glass of Tampa Bay, Inc.
Richard Campfield: ULTRA Bond, Inc.
Glenn Fell: Wyndshyld Auto Glass
This open standards development process is open to you as well. You need not even be a member to be part of it. If you would like to help as we navigate the future through these changing lenses, please drop a line to kbimber@agsc.org for an application to join us.
Linda Rollinson is the chairperson of the National Windshield Repair Division Steering Committee of the Automotive Glass Safety Council™ as well as owner of Superior Auto Glass of Tampa Bay Inc. in New Port Richey, Fla.
superiorautoglass@tampabay.rr.com
To view the laid-in version of this article in our digital edition, CLICK HERE.
