Toronto, Ontario — September 17, 2019 — According to Vehicle Collision Experts (VECO Experts), the repair industry needs a call-to-action on proper calibration procedures. So, Mark Olson, the company’s CEO, is asking for accounts of missed ADAS calibration to assist in a new training initiative.
While advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) have already made an impact on the repair industry, Olson says many OEMs conclude the issue of when to recalibrate ADAS is not a widespread problem because they are not hearing about it.
Olson took to Facebook on September 4 to ask customers and repairers to come forward with accounts of calibration errors.
“Have you ever taken a vehicle to a dealer for calibration or another service only to find out that they have no idea what you are asking them to do?” Olson asked in the post. “We are collecting data on this problem.”
VECO Experts is a company of collision repair professionals offering in-shop technical training lessons and support. The company aims to ensure vehicles are repaired to OEM standards while working with repair facilities to enhance quality, process and culture. The accounts will be used in a new VECO Experts initiative meant to help the auto body repair industry. Olson’s idea is to pass on the examples to automakers as proof of the need for better dealer education about new tech and its repair procedures.
“We have approached many OEMs with the issue and they have said that they are not getting any complaints so this is not a large priority,” said Olson.
Olson gave an example from one automaker but maintains that the issue is not limited to a single brand. In his example, he said a vehicle was brought to a dealership repair facility to have a blind spot monitoring sensor re-aimed after the replacement of the car’s bumper cover and the device itself. The vehicle was scanned and deemed fine after no codes were found — but that’s not always an indicator that an ADAS system is properly aimed.
Olson said the automakers he has spoken to regarding his project are receptive; VECO Experts just needs the documentation. The company hopes to have collected enough data to present to the OEMs at SEMA 2019 in November.
