april2022 - 34

DIAGNOS TIC S
ADAS adds safety
and confusion
Technicians must overcome differences
in ADAS technology with calibration
tools and new industry standards.
By Mindy Long
Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) rely on a combination
of cameras, radar, lidar, ultrasonic sensors, and other technologies to
improve safety, but where those technologies are located and how they
interact with the vehicle vary. The differences in these systems can make
a technician's life hard.
" There is a lot of confusion out there exactly how ADAS works, how to
calibrate it, what can be calibrated, and what can't be calibrated, " said
Chris Freeman, director of heavy-duty sales and training for Autel North
America. " We're getting a lot of different feedback from the dealers. No
one puts these sensors in the same places. They're different from make
to make and model to model. "
Diagnostics providers such as Autel are equipping the industry with
calibration tools to help close the gap as techs strive to ensure systems
are working correctly.
" We're trying to clarify the information, " Freeman said. " That way, we
can give a clear picture of what needs to be programmed and what doesn't. "
There are various elements to vehicle ADAS, including adaptive cruise
control, around-view monitoring, blind-spot detection, lane departure
warnings, light imaging detection and ranging, night vision systems,
and rear collision warnings.
" Each of these have a different function and use different sensors or a
combination of sensors to function, " said Brandon Alexander, marketing
manager for Thinkcar.
34 Fleet Maintenance | April 2022
» Specific equipment is needed to perform static ADAS calibrations.
Photo: Precision Diagnostics
Adding to the confusion, there aren't consistent expectations of ADAS
capabilities for any given fleet or consumer vehicle.
" Because of that inconsistency, technicians don't know if a vehicle
has the same capacity as the vehicle before it. I'm finding, too, that some
technicians are even confused about what it means to perform a calibration
and have it pass, " said Jordan Krebs, worldwide alignment product
manager at Snap-On Equipment.
Tom McGuire, chief operating officer of Precision Diagnostics, said the
industry hasn't even figured out how to standardize terminology in the
U.S. " With emergency assist braking across 35 different manufacturers,
there are literally 35 to 40 acronyms they use to describe their systems, "
he said. " There is a tremendous challenge of having both access and the
current level of service information to really support that technician in
not only where the sensors and the components of the ADAS are but also
what is required to program or calibrate it correctly. "
Scott McKinney, senior product manager at Bosch Automotive
Aftermarket, said a lack of standardization and the fact that ADAS
technology is new puts the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of
the shop to ensure a calibration is completed properly.
There are thresholds and tolerances that each system allows, which
means there are
instances where it
may pass but
not prevent
an accident
or perform as it
should have in a
real-world scenario, Krebs said. " The problem
that many techs face is they don't know what
may or may not be on the vehicle. Even the
same vehicle built in a different time period
may not have the same system they were just
working on, " he explained.
Alexander said that manufacturers
establish the specific functionality
within their vehicles
» Advanced scan
tools include steps
to set up targets
and frames for
calibrations.
Photo: Thinkcar
april2022

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