December/January 2022

C ommenting on the opportunity, Absolute Alignment Technical Director Chris Dear said: “ADAS is here to stay and workshops that cannot work with the systems may at best lose business and at worst be unable to function altogether. This is especially true in the field of wheel alignment.” Chris continued: “It is all too easy to simply ‘do the tracking’ as has been done for years, but without being able to check the effect of adjustments on crucial ADAS settings it may leave a workshop open to investigation in the event of a subsequent accident involving a vehicle they have worked on. Investment in a wheel aligner that integrates with ADAS calibration equipment will help eliminate the risk, and best practice for wheel alignment will soon include working with any ADAS present. Here is a business opportunity as well as a challenge. Astute workshops will be promoting their ADAS skills and turning them into a new income stream.” Training is key as well: “ADAS knowledge is not something picked up along the way. It is specialist knowledge that must be delivered by experts in the field, preferably with a recognised qualification or certificate at the end of it. From the very start it is important for workshops to deal with an equipment provider who can support them as they grow into the market. Absolute Alignment supplies wheel aligners that have ADAS calibration equipment integration built into them and a factory-trained technical team to install them and provide support. Absolute Alignment has partnered with Autel to provide ADAS calibration equipment, training and back-up to complement our wheel aligners.” Fully integrated On making it work in the workshop, Chris observed: “Fully integrated wheel alignment/ADAS calibration equipment provides workshops with the opportunity to work in a new market and profitability can be increased by following some simple guidelines. First, develop a combined wheel alignment/ADAS calibration bay so vehicles are not constantly moving around the workshop. Workflow will improve significantly. Next, always align the vehicle first. 44 AFTERMARKET DECEMBER/JANUARY 2022 ADAS/WHEEL ALIGNMENT www.aftermarketonline.net ALIGNING WITH ADAS Garages without the kit and skills required to calibrate ADAS systems correctly could be missing out on a major income stream