Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are now a common feature on many modern cars. In short they are safety systems that can help to avoid or lessen the impact of an accident. At one end of the scale they can help avoid annoying bumps in a car park, at the other end of the scale they can actually save lives.
There are now an array of systems featuring at various levels on all types of car. These include lane-keep assist, adaptive lighting, lane-departure warnings, adaptive cruise control, road sign recognition, autonomous emergency braking systems and more.
To work accurately these systems relay on gathering data from various cameras, sensors, Radar and Lidar. Electronic control units on the car will ten make thousands of calculation per second based on this data to assess possible dangers and take appropriate action. It is therefore imperative that these sensitive devices are precisely calibrated in order to supply the correct information.
There are many instances where camera and sensor calibration can be compromised. The most notable is accident impacts, but calibration can also be affected by hitting curbs or potholes, suspension work, windscreen replacement or even fitting different tyres.
A test by the IIHS safety organisation in the US recently found that a miscalibrated front camera which was just 0.6 degrees out of alignment caused the car to incorrectly read road marking meaning it was around 50cm off centring the car in the lane. It also caused the autonomous braking system to fail and the car to crash. In this instance the car travelling at 40kn/h should have safely stopped. Instead it hit the test obstacle at 32 km/h.
For ADAS safety systems to work at their optimum level they must be correctly calibrated. Many workshops have to outsource calibration work to other repairers meaning repair delays, while some actually fail in their duty of care to the customer by ignoring the calibration process altogether.
Ashmore Ryder has recently invested in one of the most advanced calibration systems on the market in order to ensure customer safety. The system allows us to recalibrate all the ADAS systems on any vehicle quickly and effectively, by checking all settings against a comprehensive database and making the necessary adjustments where required. We can therefore guarantee that any vehicle that has been repaired by Ashmore Ryder will only leave our workshop with all its ADAS systems working at optimum safety levels.
If your vehicle needs an accident repair make sure you choose a bodyshop which has advance recalibration technology. Contact Ashmore Ryder on 01-668-4997 or call in to out premises for a free assessment.