Refinish SOPs are essential for correct ADAS calibrations.

In the modern collision shop environment, calibrating ADAS systems is fast becoming an integral part of the repair process. At Budds’ Collision Services, we have long specialized in repairing high end vehicles and that’s also been facilitated by the dealer group that owns the business, which retails a lot of luxury cars and SUVs. This has put us in a position that when ADAS systems started becoming prevalent around a decade ago, we were able to make the investments and the training to ensure these systems could be properly calibrated and each vehicle returned to pre-collision condition.

Required for every repair

Today, both at the shop and within the industry, we’ve reached a point where every single late-model vehicle that comes through the door needs to be calibrated, whether it’s a Rolls-Royce or Kia and whether it’s significant front or rear end damage or a minor scrape on the bumper or mirror.

When performing repairs on vehicles equipped with ADAS systems, it’s important that the electronic systems are shut down prior to performing any types of repairs. Once the repairs are completed, the ADAS systems and sensors need to be rebooted. Every single camera, sensor and electronic module needs to be properly reset and calibrated and operating in pre-collision condition before the vehicle can be signed off and delivered to the customer.

One thing we have noticed, particularly as these ADAS systems become more advanced, is the need for collision centres to follow specific guidelines from refinish suppliers. If you don’t then it will be difficult to properly calibrate the vehicle’s ADAS systems. The importance of this cannot be stressed enough, since when a vehicle is painted, it’s very easy to have issues related to coating thickness and pigmentation, which if incorrectly applied won’t enable the sensors to be properly calibrated since it can distort their vision and cause data to be read incorrectly.

Refinish SOPs are essential when it comes to correct ADAS operation on late model vehicles.

 

SOPs matter

Often, when we see these kinds of calibration issues happen, it’s easy to blame the technician and say they didn’t align X properly or plug Y in correctly, but nine times out of 10, sensor issues are related to the paint thickness and pigmentation. That’s why it’s critical that paint companies get in contact with the collision centre and apply specific Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) when it comes to the refinish process.

Ultimately, it’s about consistency and repetition. Think about the way a fast-food franchise restaurant prepares food—the process is standardized and repeated with every order and this needs to apply to every vehicle that comes into your shop. If somebody bars you from accessing those SOPs, or doesn’t feel they are essential to the repair, then you end up opening a can of worms. This can lead to lost time and productivity in trying to chase a problem with the ADAS system, that likely has resulted due to the coating type and application, because specific paint SOPs were not followed. And in this business, that lost time and productivity, is something that many of us simply cannot afford to waste.