may2021 - 6

COVER STORY

The ABCs of ADAS

As ADAS technology's prominence continues to grow,
shops of all sizes will need to be equipped with the
most up-to-date ADAS tools and equipment.
by Emily Markham, Assistant Editor

DAS, or advanced driver assistance systems, is a term that's popping up more and more frequently in the automotive sphere. " We
are currently in the age where the vehicles being released to the
market are being designed to protect the driver and external elements to
minimize accidents and collisions, " said Haresh Gobin, product development manager for Launch Tech USA.

This means as more vehicles are
outfitted with ADAS capabilities such
as adaptive cruise control, backup cameras, and lane departure warning, automotive shops must prepare themselves
to handle repairing and recalibrating
these systems.
" In the past, as new technologies
would come along with vehicles [...] a
number of people just said, 'Look, I'm an
old timer. I'm just going to go to brakes
and suspension and forget about all that.
And you young guys can do all that.' And
you could argue about how successful
they were at that, but they could at least
draw a line in the sand, " said Ben Johnson, director of product management for
Mitchell 1. " ADAS is so different. We've
got cameras behind windshields. We've
got cameras behind grills. We've got sensors behind fenders and bumpers. We
get all these things going on. And while
a technician or a shop may very well say,
'Look, you know what? This is too new
for us. We're just going to do the basic
things we know how to do,' but they
can't really get away from it. "

Currently, many dealerships and
some larger body shops are handling
ADAS work, not the smaller, independent shops. But, with ADAS here to stay
and more and more capabilities being
added to each new vehicle, every shop,
no matter its size, will need a plan for
servicing ADAS repairs.
To set this plan in motion, shop
owners will be looking to their tool dealers for information on what equipment
they need and how they can prepare
their shop and technicians for these
new additions.

DECISIONS, DECISIONS
For shops looking to add ADAS services
to their repertoire, Johnson noted they
have three options:
* Have a bay dedicated to ADAS services. No other work, except ADAS
work, is done here.
* Have a bay where ADAS equipment
can be setup when need be.
* Sub out any ADAS work to a local
dealership or shop that can do the
ADAS work for them.

6 Professional Distributor I May 2021 I VehicleServicePros.com

Obviously, no shop will want to pick
option three, but space restrictions may
not allow for them to choose otherwise.
However, as the tools and equipment
for performing ADAS calibrations have
evolved, it's become easier for some
of the smaller shops to break into the
ADAS field.
When servicing ADAS-related
repairs, there are two kinds of calibrations a shop can perform - static
and dynamic.
" A dynamic calibration typically is
just done either with a factory or an
aftermarket scan tool that supports
it, " explained Brian Wendl, Mac Tools
mobile tool dealer. " You put the vehicle into calibration mode, you go for a
drive or whatever the procedure may be
depending on make and model, and it
calibrates itself during that process.
" Static calibrations typically have a
much larger space requirement that varies by manufacturer. The car literally just
sits in the middle of the room and aims
at a target or something like that - Lexus
has you draw lines on the floor and set
a target in a very specific spot. "
Wendl has been a mobile tool dealer for Mac Tools for almost 10 years
now. He services dealerships, independent shops, body shops, and a few
city and heavy equipment type shops.
His route travels through Southeast

http://www.VehicleServicePros.com

may2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of may2021