Absolute Alignment outlines ADAS best practice

Absolute Alignment, suppliers of OEM-approved Bluetooth and 3D wheel alignment equipment, champions Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) best practice – recommending that four wheel alignment checks should now be part of the standard MOT for any ADAS-equipped vehicle.

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems include lane change warnings, adaptive cruise control, autonomous braking and brake control. As such, ADAS sensors rely on correct rear thrust angle hence four wheel alignment is now an even more important factor in road safety as a relatively small misalignment can result in ADAS errors.

If any part of a vehicle is changed relating to the suspension, steering, sub-frame, body or windscreen, or even if a slight adjustment is made to the steering using only a front end tracking gauge, it could impact the ADAS sensor calibration and require four wheel alignment to be carried out to ensure ADAS accuracy and driver safety. Repairs that would previously have been minor on passenger cars and commercial vehicles without ADAS have become critical safety points.

Chris Dear, Absolute Alignment technical director, comments, “With ADAS-equipped vehicles, in the event of an accident, diligent investigators will be asking awkward questions as to why ADAS has let the driver down. Different manufacturers have varying approaches to checking ADAS sensor alignment, but there are two factors that are common to all – correct tyre pressures and correct four wheel alignment.

“At Absolute Alignment we believe the safety of the driver comes first. The only way to ensure that Advanced Driver Assistance Systems function 100% as they should, and as they have been designed to do in order to protect drivers and passengers, is to introduce four wheel alignment checks as mandatory to any standard MOT carried out on an ADAS-equipped vehicle.”

Absolute Alignment will present more information on best practice wheel alignment for ADAS-equipped vehicles on stand R98 at Automechanika (5-7 June, NEC Birmingham). Information is also available on its website.