By CRM Staff
Atlanta, Georgia – August 10, 2018 – The popular Technology and Telematics Forum was at NACE Automechanika trade show again this year, with a couple topics of discussion but a common underlying theme – the impact that ADAS has on the collision repair industry.
David Zuby, executive vice president and chief research officer with the Insurance Institute For Highway Safety (IIHS) confirmed the obvious fact, that these technological systems are lowering the fatality rate with vehicle collisions, which also means less collision repairs. But he also made a point that when these collisions do happen the cost to repair these systems isn’t cheap and will increase about 32 percent.
Real world issues ADAS bring to collision repair shops was hosted by NASTF executive director Donny Seyfer. The panel stressed how important the process is following the OEM procedures, particularly the target placements. Placing the target a little bit off the center line is crucial to the whole system and could result in an unwanted ADAS activation. The only way to detect this is to take the vehicle for a test spin. Diagnostic Trouble Coding’s (DTC) will not necessarily be detected or recorded by the system.
CTI’s Randy Briggs brought up another point concerning ADAS repairs. With the combination of other system inputs within ADAS, repairs that are being made could alter the operation of the system. Briggs stressed how important it is to understand how the system works in order to properly fix it, without tampering with it.
Another topic that was brought up during the forum was how the collision repair process can impact OEM’s and insurance companies. General Motors Collision Wholesale manager, John Eck stated that studies have proven 41 percent of customers unhappy with their repairs will change insurers, and 36 percent will change the brand of vehicle. This analysis ultimately means that collision repairers have to make sure they are giving the consumer a complete repair, otherwise it affects the OEM’s and insurance companies.
