Most new vehicles come equipped with an Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS). These advanced features allow cars to do things like drive themselves, self-park, advanced cruise control and brake in emergency situations!

Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems use cameras, lasers and radar to detect other cars, pedestrians and markings on the road. The ADAS systems also utilise data from sensors like the angle of the steering wheel, steering torque and lateral acceleration. But importantly the vehicle needs to be accurately aligned for most of these systems to work, at Shock wheel and alignment centre we carry out this type of alignment on these systems for our customers.

Important Notice: Repairs that would have previously been categorised as minor on most vehicles without ADAS technology now become critical safety points.

ADAS Advanced Alignment
If a camera or sensor is tampered with or moved from its original mounting during a repair, it must be recalibrated using the recommended factory procedures. An example is replacing a timing chain/belt on some vehicles that require the radiator core support bracket to be removed. Since the front-facing radar is removed during this repair, it needs to be recalibrated likewise. If a windscreen is replaced, the camera may highly need to be realigned.

The calibration process
One of the methods we use involves a high end Bosch ADAS calibration machine imported from Germany, this piece of hitech equipment uses targets mounted to a fixture at precise distances from the sensors. The targets then have distinct patterns that the vehicle’s camera system recognizes.