ADAS Calibrations

Follow up to an earlier post about an ADAS calibration on a Toyota. Several observations I have learned after I have performed over 100 of these calibrations. Blind spot, distance sensor, lane keep assist, rear camera calibration, lane watch and ICS.

1. Distance sensor is always in the grill or front fascia of the grill. It will control the adaptive cruise control and the autonomous emergency braking of the vehicle.
2. Lane keep assist/warning is always a camera mounted behind the windshield of the vehicle.
3. Blind spot monitoring is always sensors mounted on the rear corners of the vehicle behind the bumper cover or sometimes in the tail lights of vehicles.

For the most part I use OEM scan tools and OEM targets. I do this for 2 reasons:

1. At this point, I do not know where the liability stands.
2. If I'm ever questioned regarding an insurance payment to a body shop, which I have been in the past, about which tool is used for the calibration, I can confidently tell them I use OEM tools / OEM service information.

And to address an earlier point in a previous post I also have used aftermarket scan tools and targets to just see what the difference is in comparison to OEM. I have found:

1. OEM scan tools seem to be more user-friendly and the calibrations go much smoother. I cannot say this is every instance but, I have run into several bugs in a very popular aftermarket scan tool regarding the calibration of a Toyota Lane keep assist calibration. As displayed in the video from carquest in an earlier post you have to enter the specifications such as, the camera height and the distance away from the target. What I found was the aftermarket scan tool would not accept the appropriate specs that were in service information. Specs that I was required to enter. I utilized the Toyota techstream and the calibration went through.
2. I have also found some of the OEM provided service information is a little ambiguous. Nissan would come to mind. I have also found that the Nissan scan tool is also a little buggy when it comes to some of these calibrations.
3. The Subaru eyesight, which is, I believe, the only vehicle that uses stereo camera behind the windshield as a distance sensor which controls autonomous emergency braking and adaptive cruise control functions, is by far, the hardest calibration to perform. Very picky! Glare and environment seem to be the biggest problem regarding this calibration.
4. I also take screenshots of the successful calibration, the setup of the target, and a picture of the vehicle. Most manufacturers say to use chalk lines when you are setting up your grid and to determine Target placement. What I have also found is I will go over those chalk lines with masking tape, so as to provide a better visual for when I take pictures to show the measurements and the grid for Target placement. I will save those pictures to the cloud or a thumb drive.

Here are some examples of a Mazda distance sensor, Mercedes Lane keep assist, Subaru eyesight and some techstream screen shots. 

I'll leave you with this, if I can do this, anyone can. 

Feel free to contact me if I can help. My advice is always free and if I can help someone out, I'm thrilled to do so.