Speed limiters to increase demand for wheel alignment
Absolute Alignment anticipates that increasing driver assistance technologies in cars will result in increasing opportunities for wheel alignment services
Wheel alignment supplier Absolute Alignment anticipates increased demand for four wheel alignment services from 2022 onwards if speed limiters become compulsory on all new cars across Europe.
The new rules, that are due this year and have already been provisionally agreed, would mean all vehicles manufactured three years from now would be fitted with speed-limiting devices. Expected to be approved by the EU, cars driven in the UK would be included after Brexit, Absolute adds.
Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA), the technology that slows down a vehicle that is travelling too fast, works by using a speed sign recognition camera and GPS-linked speed limit data.
ISA could be just one of more than a dozen new safety features planned for all new vehicles sold in Europe from 2022. Just as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) mean that wheel alignment is becoming more important in order to ensure their accuracy, from 2022 the increasing vehicle standards will again demand higher precision when it comes to alignment due to the impact it has on sensor calibration of safety devices.
Chris Dear, Absolute Alignment’s technical director, said, “Modern vehicles are getting more and more complicated regarding ongoing maintenance, due to all the safety technologies they now have fitted from new.
“We have recently seen an increase in demand from workshops for the ADAS sensor alignment tool, a bespoke alignment bar, that we sell which integrates directly with the software of our OEM-approved Bluetooth wheel aligners. This is because of the higher number of customers who require their local garages to be able to work on, service and MOT their newer vehicles that have numerous safety features fitted.
“New legislation from 2022 will once again mean that four wheel alignment is about more than just reducing your tyre wear, as it also enables all these safety devices to operate correctly – because any misalignment on a vehicle can cause sensor or camera errors to occur.”
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