TYPES OF ADAS
between vehicles, such as Volkswagen Group’s Local Hazard Information technology, launched in 2017. Using
GPS data and real-time information from vehicles (including data from light, rain, stability control and airbag trigger sensors), one car can send data to other vehicles in its locality, warning them of impending dangers ahead. The more cars that participate, the more reliable the information becomes, a fundamental principle of ‘swarm intelligence’. The Volkswagen Group claims that 1.7 million of its vehicles in Europe contribute data for its Local Hazard Information currently and predicts that the participating carparc will grow to over three million from next year.
ADAS: Who To Trust?
Even if you rely on professionals to service and repair your car, consider that many garages and even bodyshops possess neither skills, nor knowledge, to perform ADAS calibration. Therefore, a technically savvy car owner can help, by being aware of the situation and prioritising which local garages offer ADAS services. Should you present your Adas-equipped car for a wheel alignment (or suspension geometry) adjustment, enquire if the garage performed a subsequent
ADAS calibration, because it is likely to be necessary. Similarly, should you have the windscreen replaced, onto which a camera mounts, calibration is necessary for the installer’s duty-of-care obligations to ensure a safe repair.
This is not to accuse the motor trade of not working hard to bring its technicians up-to-date. From 31st March 2021, garages and body repairers have to comply with IIR, which is the Insurance Industry Requirements for the safe repair of Adas-equipped vehicles, detailed here: https://www.thatcham.org/ insurance-industry-requirements/ the-requirements. While the requirements detail assessment methods, repair planning, processes and calibration, professional repairers
(or their sub-contractors) must have the capabilities and equipment to calibrate all ADAS sensors and cameras. While the requirement does not bind Diyers, it is sensible to adopt IIR as part of conducting a thorough and safe repair at home, even if it means calling on external help.
The recalibration procedure
Calibration methods vary, dependent on the vehicle and the systems fitted. The procedure tends to be conducted via the EOBD socket and so, at the very least, you need the equipment to access the calibration mode. An inexpensive fault code reader will be useless. You also need details about how the calibration can be completed on your car. Unless you have a friendly trade contact, obtaining this data is virtually impossible.
Calibration is carried out either dynamically, by using a diagnostic tool while driving the car in a pre-set manner, or statically. To illustrate the processes involved, the following procedures (starting on page 12) detail static calibration of various ADAS hardware. While the operations are not feasible for an owner working from home, they show the procedures that a garage, or mobile ADAS calibrator, should carry out after you have completed your DIY mechanical repair.
As ADAS refers to a group of systems, not all cars posses the same specification. Additionally, not only can the same system from two different car manufacturers possess different names, they also can work differently. To keep things simple, we have summarised the most common ADAS technologies that you are likely to encounter on cars over three-years-old.