An 11-member Collision Industry Conference (CIC) task force focused on the risks and impacts to consumers relative to ADAS work in the collision industry presented its findings and recommendations at CIC in July, about four months ahead of schedule.
“Our challenge here is there are a thousand cars today, and there’ll be a thousand cars tomorrow and a thousand cars the next day, leaving shops that won’t have proper recalibrations because we don’t all know what do these vehicles,” industry consultant Sean Carey, who led the task force, said at CIC this past spring when the effort was announced. “It’s changing all the time. The technology is so dynamic from the OEMs, and we want to try to resolve that.”
At that time, the committee was slated to share its findings in November during SEMA, but at CIC in the Chicago area in July, Carey said that work was already done.
Carey said the task force’s goal was to “establish and clearly define the essential requirements for safe and accurate ADAS recalibration,” given that the lack of clear, consistent and verifiable protocols is widespread and needs to be addressed by the collective industry.”
“ADAS and ADAS calibration are broad-ranging, complex, and constantly evolving,” Carey said. “This is not a narrow technical issue that can be resolved by one company, one committee, or one segment of this industry. It touches every stakeholder in the collision industry. It is the task force’s opinion that ADAS presents this industry with the greatest challenge it has ever faced, and one that poses a safety risk to your customers, your loved ones and yourself.”
Task force identifies five critical areas
The task force prepared three documents outlining its recommendations. The first lays out five critical areas in which the task force segmented the feedback it received. Under “process,” for example, the task force found that “the industry lacks a consistent and universally understood process for identifying, planning, documenting and executing ADAS-related calibrations.” Under “knowledge,” the task force found the industry “lacks consistent competency standards, accessible information, technical understanding, and common agreement” on such things as necessary technician training, competency evaluation, and vehicle and equipment geometry and tolerances.
Document lists 10 non-negotiables
Another document lists 10 items it considers as “non-negotiables.” These include that all scanning and calibrations must adhere to OEM procedures by make, model and VIN, including tooling, vehicle preparation and facility requirements.
“There is no such thing as ‘OEM equivalents,” the document reads.
All calibration processes and outcomes must be documented, and technicians performing the work must meet defined training and competency levels.
“Cost or economic pressures should have no impact on the calibration requirements,” the document states.
A third document lays out six recommended requirements for automakers. These include clearly defining when calibrations are required, and providing “clear and unambiguous procedures, equipment requirements and facility specifications.” Automakers should develop “a system where the vehicle can validate that work was performed successfully and proper functionality was restored.” They also should “provide centralized access to calibration documentation in a single, easily searchable platform.”
CIC vote expected in Las Vegas
The task force is seeking input on the documents through a form on the CIC website prior to an expected vote by the CIC body in Las Vegas in November on whether to adopt the documents as “work products of CIC.”
“But I also think given all the things that have been fleshed out of this that they’ve delivered to us, there’s probably additional next steps that make logical sense for CIC to consider and continue moving on with,” Dan Risley, chairman of CIC, said following Carey’s presentation. “So we’ll bring that to you in Las Vegas as well.”
John Yoswick