ADAS Repair Recommendations

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This is a recommended process that should be followed when fitting or refitting windscreens.

4.1 Understanding

a) Understand as to whether the vehicle has ADAS applications fitted.
b) Determine which ADAS function(s) require sensor calibration. Determine what type of calibration is required for the systems : i.e. static, dynamic or combination of these.
c) Determine the required methods and equipment.

4.2 Awareness

d) Ensure that customers are aware that they have (or potentially have) a vehicle that has ADAS features loaded.
e) Ensure that the customer is made aware of the need for the sensor being calibrated in accordance with vehicle manufacturers’ instructions (if they have the ADAS function loaded) after the windscreen is changed.
f) Ensure that customers are aware that the function may be impaired and they should not rely on the operation of any ADAS after their windscreen is changed until the system is calibrated.
g) Make it clear to customers (i) whether you can calibrate their ADAS sensor system either using your own technology or by using a sub-contractor; (ii) that otherwise they will be responsible for getting the system calibrated using, for example, their local dealership; and (iii) that they may be held liable if any event occurs resulting from their failure to calibrate.
Provide customers with a written communication about their vehicle’s ADAS technology, setting out the following facts, namely (i) the need for calibration (including how their system will be calibrated if undertaken or managed by you as the service provider); (ii) the need to get the system calibrated themselves if you are unable to calibrate their ADAS sensor as part of your service; (iii)
that they should not rely on the correct functionality of the ADAS system unless/until the system has been successfully calibrated; (iv) that they may be held liable if any adverse event occurs as a result of their failure to calibrate; and (v) their insurance company should be notified of the position.

4.3 Scheduling the job

a) Vehicles that require Static Calibration will need to be booked into an appropriate facility.
b) Make sure that the screen being ordered/fitted meets is of the right optical quality for the ADAS system to work as the Vehicle Manufacture intended.
c) Make customers aware if there vehicle requires Dynamic Calibration their vehicle will need to be driven on public roads in order to complete the calibration service.
d) If the calibration cannot be carried out at the time of the windscreen replacement service an alternative date/appointment may need to be scheduled.
e) Ensure that the correct calibration technology which includes the Diagnostic/Calibration Equipment are available at the time of service.

4.4 Performing the job

f) Pre-inspection – use Diagnostic Tool.
g) Make customer aware of non ADAS fault codes.
h) If Dynamic Calibration ensure that the vehicle is not moved prior to the adhesive system’s minimum drive away time (MDAT).
i) Calibrate system as appropriate.
j) Print the calibration certificate.
k) Provide the customer with a copy of the calibration certificate and retain a copy of the calibration certificate for your records.

e-tags take their toll

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It’s a job even MacGyver would struggle at.

How do you remove that locked-on sticky bit of plastic that holds the e-tag device to your vehicle’s windscreen?

We’ve spoken to the drivers in our office and e-tag providers Interlink Roads and Transurban, and here are some of the solutions they’ve come up with.

*Hairdryer

Get one of those portable hairdryers, point it at the glue that sticks to the glass and turn it in. The hot air should weaken the glue.

*Fishing line, or other tough strings

Grab a fishing line or dental floss, pull it left and right behind the bracket, until it starts to slowly detach from the glass. Note: patience is also required.

*Paint scraper

Use a paint scraper or anything else with a flat edge and use it to slowly create a wedge between the bracket and the glass. Keep going until the bracket is fully separated from the windscreen.

*Warm cloth

The RTA’s advice is to wrap a warm, damp cloth around the edges of the bracket. The glue will get moist, and that’s supposed to weaken its hold.

*Twist, twist, twist and TWIST

CityLink in Melbourne recommends good old brute strength. Grab hold of the bracket with your fingers, twist once to the left, once to the right, twist left and right and left until the bracket loosens from the glass, then twist sharply to the left as hard as possible. if it doesn’t work, try again in 15 minutes. (And no, we don’t know why you have to wait 15 minutes, and not 8 or 23 minutes.)

What about the glue left on the glass …

So, after you’ve removed the bracket, what do you do with the residue glue on the glass? Try using a household cleaner, eucalyptus oil, or a citrus-based liquid to remove it, then clean the glass with your usual windscreen cleaner.

Honestly, leave it to the experts at Sunshine Coast Windscreens.

A peek into the future

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Augmented reality windshields, biometric sensors

If you’re dazzled by all the high-tech innovations found in new cars today—such as Bluetooth, Blind Spot obstacle detection, Active City Safety, Active Cruise Control radar, Collision Warning with full auto brake and pedestrian detection, Attention Assist to detect drowsy driving and Active Park Assis—get ready to be dazzled some more.

As the automotive industry marches inexorably toward the car of the future, a.k.a. the self-driving car, tech companies are coming up with cutting-edge systems in-vehicle and out that would make driving safer, more pleasant and more efficient.

One such system is the augmented reality windshield that, by overlaying real world images with digital ones, can display driving directions, text messages or impending hazards, all without requiring the driver to take his eyes off the road. Augmented reality has been in the iPhone since 2008, but it can radically change the way we drive and interact with technology.

In 2004, BMW was the first automaker to bring out a color Head-Up Display (HUD) that projected driving-related info directly in the driver’s line of sight. In 2011, BMW began working on the HUD acquiring “Contact Analogue” functionality, a technique whereby virtual “markings” are superimposed on real objects in the external environment, so that navigation info can be displayed at exactly the right points on the driver’s view of the road scene.

INTEGRATED. In Contact Analogue Display Technology, the displayed info is integrated into the external environment in the correct perspective and at the actual point or points in the scene to which it relates, so that the info effectively appears to be “attached” to the external objects. Since the info is presented in the driver’s direct line of sight and is overlaid on the objects it is referring to, the driver doesn’t have to shift his attention away from the driving scene, his gaze is not distracted and he doesn’t have to change focus as he does when looking back to the road from the instrument cluster or central info display. So info relevant to the driving situation can be scanned more quickly and more directly and at the same time currently required actions can be displayed in intuitive form.

On the other hand, according to an article by Greg Bensinger in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), carmakers like Daimler and General Motors are working on windshields with simple graphics that allow drivers to see digital renditions of their surroundings such as difficult-to-see road edges, pedestrians and/or animals as well as draw attention to erratic drivers.

The technology works via cameras in the vehicle that track the driver’s eye and head to determine where he is looking, and sensors outside the car track pointing at moving and stationary objects. Bensinger quotes the GM chief technologist for human machine interface as cautioning that augmented reality has to be done very judiciously lest the windshield be cluttered with too much information and become a distraction.

HAND MOTIONS. The WSJ article reports that Daimler envisions an augmented reality windshield that can respond to hand motions to display information, such as factoids about a city’s landmarks, weather and traffic updates. Moreover, by showing social media posts without requiring the driver to look away from the road as reading a smartphone would, the augmented reality windshield makes texting and driving safer.

The CEO of Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America claims that if the whole car, including the windshield, can be linked to drivers’ smartphones, drivers could upload their calendars to the windshield, and view and respond to text messages. He noted that people are becoming more reliant on their smartphones to navigate through the day, so a future is possible where so much of their world can be brought to them while they are driving.

However, both Daimler and GM said it would take at least five years before augmented reality windshields can be installed in vehicles and made available to the public.

BIOMETRIC SENSORS. Meanwhile, WSJ “Eyes on the Road” columnist James B. White wrote last month that major auto manufacturers are developing a technology that can save drivers from having an accident by sensing drivers’ illness or rising stress levels and activating the car’s safety systems such as tapping the brakes, turning off a radio, blocking a cell phone from ringing. So-called biometric sensors, writes White, would keep tabs on vital signs including pulse, breathing, sweat, heart rate, brain waves and even blood sugar level (the latter via a smartphone app), feed the info into computers that manage a car’s safety system and thus enable the vehicle to better react to whatever challenges the road and traffic dish out.

White mentions the already existing in-cabin cameras of some Lexus models like the GS and steering sensors in some Mercedes-Benz vehicles like the S-Class that detect drowsy driving behavior, sound a warning beep or flash an icon to suggest a break. Sports car maker Ferrari SpA is evaluating technology that would embed wireless electrodes in a car seat’s headrest to monitor brain waves for stress and, depending on what the sensors detect, the car would try to reduce risk by cutting power or by automatically stabilizing the vehicle.

But while phone-disabling technology may come to Ford Motor Co. showrooms “fairly quickly,” according to a senior technical leader involved with Ford’s research project connecting info from medical monitors to its cars’ in-dash multimedia systems, biometric sensors are “further out” due to medical privacy and regulatory issues.

Whether they are brought to the market soon or many years later, accident-preventing technologies like the augmented reality windshield and biometric sensors deserve to be welcomed by consumers.

Auto glass industry forms assn

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The Australian auto glass industry has joined forces to launch Australia’s largest independent association for the industry, the Auto Glass Association (AGA).

National franchises and suppliers through to individual contractors will be represented by the new association, which will give all sides of the auto glass industry a unified voice and act as a central hub for communication and training.

Murray McGrath, AGA President, said, “The AGA takes its independence seriously. We represent all sides of the industry equally, the large and small players, and have set corporate interests aside to work together toward common goals of maintaining high standards and consumer safety.

“Our country’s automotive manufacturing industry is not what it once was,” Murray continues, “…making it all the more important to establish an industry body, devoid of corporate agenda, to protect the future of the auto glass sector in Australia and the safety of everyone on the road.”

Members will have an exclusive suite of materials and information at their disposal, with training programs, technical bulletins and standard updates keeping them abreast of industry developments. Drivers now have a reliable resource to turn to for information and advice about their car windows or windscreen, or to find a glass technician nearby who abides by a strict code of practice.

“Providing reliable, trustworthy and current information to car owners and industry members is one of the AGA’s most important mandates,” Murray said.

Aussie auto glass businesses interested in becoming an AGA member can visit the new website at www.autoglass.org.au.