The vehicle technology owners rated highest in the JD Power 2026 U.S. Tech Experience Index study is mounted on the outside of the car, in the panels a collision may damage first.
Camera-based features led two of the study's five technology categories. In comfort and convenience, JD Power identified camera rear-view mirror technology in both segments, citing the Cadillac Escalade among premium models and the Toyota Tundra among mass market models. In driver assist, it identified blind spot camera in both segments, citing the Genesis GV70 and the Hyundai Palisade.
The index draws on 68,084 owners of new 2026 model-year vehicles surveyed after 90 days of ownership, fielded from June 2025 through May 2026, and scores 40 technologies by combining how widely a brand has adopted each one with how well it is executed.
The cameras sit in bumpers, mirrors and liftgates
I-CAR Repairability Technical Support documentation on 360° camera view systems places those cameras in the front bumper or grille, under the side rearview mirrors, and in the deck lid, liftgate, or tailgate. Multiple cameras positioned around the vehicle feed the bird's-eye view the system presents to the driver.
Calibration is normally required after any of those cameras is replaced, according to I-CAR, and some OEMs require calibration when a side mirror, bumper cover, or door is removed.
Demand and documentation don't line up
Even considering those requirements, there is a mismatch between how much calibration is required and how much calibration is being done. Camera systems are one piece of a larger calibration picture, and the industry-wide numbers show demand running ahead of what estimates record.
Srisu Subrahmanyam, CEO of Repairify, estimates that roughly 65% of vehicles going through collision shops require some form of calibration, and that between 35% and 40% of that work is actually being performed.
Revv's ADAS Calibration Maturity Curve, published in March, similarly found that 65% of repairs require at least one recalibration. Revv reports separately that 44% of vehicles entering shops carry ADAS systems with active calibration requirements.
Estimating data tracks at or below that range. CCC Intelligent Solutions' 2026 Crash Course report put calibrations on 28.3% of repairable estimates. Enlyte's 2026 Envision Trends Report, drawing on Mitchell estimating data, found calibration penetration reaching 34.7% of estimates in 2025, up from 12.1% in 2022, with an average cost of $688 per estimate when a calibration was present.
A completed calibration is hard to confirm
A camera aimed slightly off center can leave a system reading its environment incorrectly with no warning to the driver. And a scan returning no diagnostic trouble codes does not establish that a sensor is operating within spec, as Subrahmanyam has described. "Just because you see a blank screen doesn't mean your ADAS systems are perfectly fine," he said.
John Melendez from JDM Collision & Calibrations in Thornton, Ill. agrees. In an interview in Autobody News in June, he said that fault codes only show if a vehicle has detected a problem. "They do not confirm that cameras, radar sensors, and other ADAS components are functioning within manufacturer specifications," he said.
How shops arrive at complete, reliably documented calibration is unsettled, both in the legislation before Congress and in the industry efforts running alongside it. But as vehicle technology grows more complex, calibration needs will likely only increase, as will the need for consistency that ensures repairs are accurate and safe.
