ATS Euromaster: ADAS needs calibration during SMR to avoid compromising vehicle safety

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) have become vital for a car’s safety and form a critical part of EuroNCAP’s star safety rating system. But to ensure ADAS items continue to work correctly they need to be recalibrated after remedial work. With that in mind, tyre service and maintenance provider ATS Euromaster is advising fleets to consider recalibration work in any SMR undertaken on a vehicle that might affect the proper functioning of the affected safety system.

ADAS features include lane departure warning, autonomous emergency braking, and adaptive cruise control. Calibration compares what the ADAS feature is doing against how the system should be performing, before making adjustments to ensure optimum performance against factory settings.

Mark Holland, operations director at ATS Euromaster, said: “More and more vehicles come to us for work now that will require ADAS recalibration that the customer just isn’t fully aware of. As a leading national fast-fit chain of garages we have a duty of care to educate the customers who bring their vehicles to us and we are currently developing our ADAS offer and capabilities at pace to meet this demand.”

Holland pointed out that new cars have a variety of new and traditional ADAS functions, ranging from adaptive cruise control, and radar braking to lane control assist:

“For example, if you’ve had the tyres changed and a wheel alignment has been necessary, you will need to ensure the radar and the front camera are recalibrated to factory settings, otherwise it may not work correctly. It’s a significant safety issue today for ICE and Hybrid vehicles, which will grow into a bigger issue as electric vehicles become more commonplace. However, this is not just an EV issue.”

Holland’s advice was specifically aimed at fleet managers: “We’d also advise fleet managers to ensure their drivers know to take their vehicle in for fault analysis if one of the ADAS dashboard warning lights come on. Otherwise, the vehicle’s insurance could be invalidated”.

Thatcham Research, the motor insurers’ automotive research centre, insists that inspection, realignment and calibration requirements are considered under all repair situations where any of these features are included within the repair, service or maintenance procedure: ADAS sensors; Parts likely to affect the operation and functionality of ADAS sensors; or vehicle geometry (steering and suspension/wheel alignment). According to Thatcham, such items must be completed post repair to confirm the vehicle’s sensors are working within manufacturer set tolerances.