UNIVERSAL ADAS CALIBRATION SHIFTS FROM DEBATE TO NECESSITY

A SEMA PANEL ARGUES INCONSISTENT CALIBRATIONS ARE NOW A SAFETY AND LIABILITY RISK

A panel discussion at the 2025 SEMA Show revisited a growing concern in collision repair: vehicles leaving shops with ADAS systems that appear functional but may not be properly calibrated.

The session took place November 6, 2025 and featured Andy Dingman and Michael Giarrizzo of the Society of Collision Repair Specialists along with Bud Center of I-CAR. The discussion centred on “Driving Down Costs, Driving Up Safety: The Economic Benefits of Universal ADAS Servicing,” a white paper co-produced by Ascential Technologies and released in September 2024.

The paper examines why proper ADAS calibrations remain inconsistent across the industry and documents the safety and economic consequences of this calibration gap.

Dingman said the need for the discussion itself reflects a persistent problem. “It’s hard to believe we’re talking about the necessity of doing calibrations. I think that comes down to ignorance and a lack of training. Ignorance is no defence when it comes to calibration,” he said.

The white paper calls for universal standards around ADAS calibration. It documents how improper or incomplete calibrations can degrade system performance without triggering warning lights or fault codes. The paper argues that calibration should be treated as a safety-critical validation step, not a procedural formality. “The study was profound in what it revealed,” Dingman said.

Center said the research aligned with what I-CAR has seen through training and field experience. “It’s interesting to me — it didn’t reveal anything we don’t know,” he said. “It’s why we [at I-CAR] created an ADAS technician role and all the online curriculum and hands-on training.”

One key finding addresses how much trust drivers and repairers place in ADAS systems once a vehicle leaves the shop. “People don’t understand how trusting these systems are,” Center said.

Giarrizzo added that this trust is often reinforced by the absence of obvious warning signs. “People think, there’s no dash lights on so there’s not a problem,” he said.

The white paper documents that 88 percent of ADAS calibrations were missed by body shops in a 2020 study. Only about 12 percent of Model Year 2020 vehicles equipped with automatic emergency braking were being recalibrated at all. More alarmingly, less than 10 percent of vehicles were even scanned to help diagnose electronic systems issues in 2018. That figure rose to only 15 percent in 2022.

More than half of survey respondents in 2024 reported persisting issues with ADAS features after repairs. Post-repair issues were more common if the repairs were performed at independent repair shops than dealership service centres.

The white paper outlines specific examples of how calibration errors affect performance.

In one Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study, a camera for automatic lane-keeping in a 2016 Honda Civic was intentionally misaligned by 0.4 degrees to the left. The vehicle misperceived the distance to the lane line by 15 centimetres (six inches) on one side and 38 centimetres (15 inches) on the other. When the camera was misaligned by 0.6 degrees, that faulty distance increased to 69 centimetres (27 inches).

The same study demonstrated that a 0.2-degree difference in camera alignment, for a vehicle travelling at 40 kilometres per hour (25 miles per hour), was the difference between timely and untimely deployment of automatic emergency braking and ultimately an impact with a front obstacle or not.

Environmental factors during calibration also affect outcomes. The white paper notes that OEMs require calibrations to be performed on a floor with a slope of less than one degree in any direction. According to one vehicle manufacturer’s study, when a calibration was conducted on a floor with a 1.5-degree pitch, emergency braking systems would fail to timely deploy thereafter.

The paper points to gaps in training, equipment and process discipline as reasons calibrations are sometimes skipped or performed incorrectly. ADAS recalibration is generally required if an ADAS sensor or sensor mounting part was removed or replaced. However, repair shops often lack the necessary equipment, expertise or awareness to recalibrate when simply removing a part that doesn’t obviously support ADAS functionality.

Center said the challenge is growing as technology evolves. “When you think about the fact that they’re projecting the ADAS industry will be worth US$50 billion by 2030, there’s going to be a lot [of new systems to learn] out there,” he said.

The white paper examines the economic impact across stakeholders. For consumers, properly calibrated ADAS significantly reduces crash rates. Vehicles with automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning have 50 percent fewer rear-end collisions. Studies show vehicles with properly functioning ADAS have significantly fewer crashes and lower insurance losses compared to vehicles without these systems.

AAA research found that incorporating ADAS repairs and calibration adds approximately 37.6 percent to total repair bills. However, the white paper argues this cost is offset by crash prevention. NHTSA calculates that mandating automatic emergency braking in all light-duty vehicles would save at least 362 lives and mitigate 24,321 non-fatal injuries annually. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety estimates current ADAS technology would prevent 37 million crashes, 14 million injuries and 250,000 deaths over the next 30 years.

For insurance providers, the lack of consistent calibration potentially costs millions. Between 2013 and 2022, U.S. auto insurers experienced claim payouts increase from US$96 billion to US$105 billion for personal and commercial auto insurer liability. The white paper notes that properly functioning ADAS leads to double-digit decreases in insurance claims for collisions, property damage liability, bodily injury liability, medical payment coverage and personal injury protection per vehicle year.

The average settlement for car accidents involving physical injuries was US$29,700 between 2015 and 2020. With 2.38 million traffic accidents in 2022 alone, properly calibrated ADAS could save insurers millions in liability claims by reducing collisions.

Auto insurers have also paid out more than US$1.10 in legal defence fees for every US$1 in premiums collected in 2023. The white paper argues that properly calibrated ADAS technologies can help cut legal defence fees by preventing incidents before they occur.

For automakers, the calibration gap represents lost revenue opportunities. Front bumper sensor and camera replacements alone cost between US$500 and US$1,900. With ADAS quickly becoming standard in millions of vehicles, potential profit from servicing vehicles with ADAS parts could reach hundreds of millions. The white paper also examines legal exposure. In Lommatzsch v. Tesla, a driver was injured during a collision when her Tesla’s Autopilot mode was engaged. The car had been serviced, including sensor replacement, shortly before the crash. The driver assumed the car would deploy forward collision braking automatically to prevent a collision, but it did not. Both Tesla and the repair shop were sued.

The paper notes that repair entities are beginning to face legal exposure for improper repairs that lead to injury. This situation could become much more common as ADAS-equipped vehicles further penetrate the market.

For service centres, ADAS calibration represents significant new revenue opportunity. Since calibration can be billed as a separate line item, with charges averaging a few hundred dollars, the current calibration gap could translate to thousands of dollars in potential daily revenue. Offering calibration as part of routine maintenance could bring customers back more regularly between collision events. The white paper predicts the ADAS calibration market may top US$50 billion by 2030, with the calibration equipment market alone rising to US$1 billion in value by 2033. The calibration industry will need more equipment and more trained technicians skilled in sensor alignment and software calibration, potentially creating thousands of new manufacturing and technician jobs.

Center said understanding what calibration actually involves is critical. “People need to understand what is required [to do calibrations] correctly,” he said.

The white paper emphasizes that diagnostic scans alone cannot verify proper calibration. Physical testing and validation against OEM specifications remain essential.

Calibration requirements vary significantly between brands and even within an OEM’s model lineup. Tools and equipment are often unique to specific manufacturers and not interchangeable. Pre-calibration requirements can include workspace dimensions, surface levelness, lighting control and vehicle preparation steps that many technicians may not anticipate. Some procedures require four-wheel alignments to be completed before radar sensor calibration can begin. Others mandate specific ambient temperature ranges or require mirrors and windshields to be completely clean of any residue.

The regulatory landscape is also shifting. NHTSA’s 2024 final rule requires automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection up to 100 kilometres per hour (62 miles per hour) on all new light vehicles by September 2029. As these systems become mandatory, proper post-repair calibration becomes even more critical to maintaining their effectiveness. The white paper recommends performance based standards that allow for innovative technologies while preserving ADAS performance and safety. This could include the development of advanced, automated calibration systems that enhance precision, reduce human error and ensure reproducible outcomes beyond traditional manual methods.

Panelists agreed the white paper aims to push the industry toward clearer expectations and better education as ADAS becomes standard across more vehicles. Without that shift, they said, systems designed to improve safety risk becoming a hidden liability after collision repairs.

“Universal ADAS calibration is more than a safety measure,” the white paper concludes. “It is an economically sound investment in public well-being, industry sustainability and long-term cost reduction.”