The Troubled Turkey Trotters:
My brother’s family drove 14-15hrs south to Alabama for the recent holiday. They rented a 2019 Nissan Sentra for the trip. After already departing on I-90, they realized that the cruise control didn’t work and a “System Malfunction Warning” lit up the dash.
You may have already experienced a “System Error” or “Malfunction Warning” while driving; and if you haven’t, you’d refer to the owner’s manual to fix it. Just like when the windshield wiper fluid gets low, a warning shows on your dashboard. That may be a little too simplified, but I think you understand the concept.
Your owner’s manual will tell you that bright lights, weather conditions, or debris can obstruct the sensors’ ability to function, so clean where the sensor is located. Ok, simple enough. The warning is still there; next step, “Contact Dealer for Repair.” What? Really? Why? They then had to drive the entire 15hrs without cruise control. FUN!
With ADAS, any time your vehicle has had work done on it, your vehicle’s sensors need to be recalibrated. The technicians also need to run pre and post-scans of your vehicle’s systems to confirm that they are functioning properly. So in my brother’s case; something was fixed on his rental and they didn’t reset and recalibrate the car’s systems after working on it.
Your Car and Dent Repair:
We hosted earlier this year an Autel ADAS Calibration Training and one of my esteemed colleagues, Jack Bucknell of Sioux Falls Dent Repair, recorded the training.
Jack Bucknell, Sioux Falls Dent Repair, explaining AUTEL Pre and Post scans in their Blog. Read it here.
ADAS in a nutshell:
If you have a car, truck, or van that is a 2016 or newer, you definitely need to read this! Advanced Driver Assistance Safety (ADAS). ADAS is the system that controls your vehicle’s adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, lane departure warning, driver monitoring systems, auto-braking, crosswind stabilization, automatic parking, forward collision warning, and more! These features are defining a new experience with traveling because ADAS is working every moment after you turn your key or push “Start”.
When working in Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) we often remove taillights, headlights, headliners, etc. to gain access and to repair dents from behind the panel. Then after the repair is done, we put everything back together per manufacturer specs. With ADAS, its not that simple; we pre and post-scan your vehicle to ensure it is that there are no fault codes, requiring a system to be recalibrated to its original manufacturer settings.
Fun Fact: OEM Guidelines states that if the any part of the system has been unplugged or removed; even without a fault code being triggered, it’s highly recommended that the ADAS system be recalibrated.
Tesla Model X, recently repaired by The Dent Guy
As our vehicles become smarter, so must our technicians; to guarantee our safe, consistent, and reliable services in PDR and GPR. Our goals are to provide amazing repairs for our customers and to keep them safe on the road with no interruption.