Drivers’ increasing reliance on ADAS safety systems only adds to the need for state vehicle safety inspections that check whether such systems are performing as intended, Automotive Service Association (ASA) leaders contend.
“Vehicle safety does not stop at the dealer showroom, but requires regular maintenance intervals of vehicle inspection as well as the post-repair inspection,” Bob Redding, ASA’s national lobbyist, said during a recent association webinar.
ASA has long supported existing required vehicle safety inspections, but the list of states with such programs has been whittled down to only about a dozen. The programs are often the focus of legislation reducing what vehicles are to be inspected — if not eliminating the program entirely. In 2025 alone, lawmakers in at least six states considered proposals to scale back their state’s inspection program.
ADAS Drift Raises New Safety Questions
More recently, however, there have been indications that ADAS systems aren’t always being restored and calibrated fully after accidents – and that the systems may even “drift” through on a vehicle even if it hasn’t been involved in a collision.
Last summer, Ascential Technologies published a white paper on its testing of a 2024 Nissan Altima that after 13,000 miles had ADAS systems that weren’t performing as intended even though the vehicle had not been in a crash
“To me, that tells you that there’s enough wear-and-tear on a vehicle after 13,000 miles that there is drift in the brackets or something,” Brunno Moretti, president of ADAS solutions at Ascential Technologies, said of his company’s findings.
Shop Owners See the Risks Firsthand
New Mexico shop owner Scott Benavidez said required inspections of used vehicles in his state has improved the quality of vehicles on the road there.For Scott Benavidez, a New Mexico collision shop owner and immediate past chair of ASA, a recent ride in a Waymo automated vehicle in Phoenix only heightened for him the need for regular vehicle safety inspections.
“I was scared to death, but as I looked at the screen, you could see every human that was even close to our vehicle, you could see every vehicle that was close to our vehicle,” Benavidez said. “It was a safer ride than some I’ve taken in an Uber or a Lyft. But if we are not doing any safety inspections on these vehicles [with ADAS], you can only imagine what could happen.”
Dan Stander, a Colorado body shop owner and chairman of ASA, compared ADAS system inspections to routine checking of wheel alignment.
“Especially when you’re talking about a radar or camera that’s looking 300 feet down the road, at maybe half a degree off…I don’t know if that car is looking, maybe not even on the road, or at a minimum, maybe at a different lane,” Stander said. “So obviously that can be very dangerous. So I truly think inspections are going to be a necessity, just for the safety of the motoring public.”
Used Vehicles and Repair Shortcuts Add to the Concern
Benavidez said his company performs inspections of used vehicles to check for prior repairs because his state requires anyone selling a used vehicle to disclose if that vehicle has sustained damage exceeding 6 percent of its value. Even before the widespread adoption of ADAS, he’s seen many vehicles that may look fine to a typical consumer, yet are unsafe. Calibration issues with ADAS only raise more concern.
“It’s really those safety aspects that are becoming an expensive part of repairing that vehicle, so they’ll put them back together trying to not do that, and just make the outside look good, but the most important part are those safety aspects,” Benavidez said.
ASA Urges Policymakers to Modernize Inspections
Redding said too few states conduct any type of vehicle safety inspections, and existing programs generally do not include checking ADAS.
“Consumers are the losers for that not existing,” Redding said. “We actually have talked about that with [U.S.] House policymakers who are working on the transportation infrastructure bill and the vehicle safety provisions. We think this is an important issue.”
John Yoswick