Advanced Safety System Recalibration and How It Keeps You Safe

The biggest leaps in automotive technology over the past few years haven’t been in propulsion; they’ve been in driver safety. The average new vehicle is safer than it’s ever been, with highly advanced, sophisticated systems that can literally “see” the road and warn of – or react to – potential threats.

Advanced safety features first became available on North American passenger vehicles in 2004 with the Infiniti FX and its early lane monitoring system. Additional advanced safety systems quickly followed.

Driving many of these systems is your car’s forward-facing camera. Mounted high up on the windshield, on the backside of your rear-view mirror mount, this camera has an ideal vantage point from which to keep an eye on the road ahead, feeding a livestream to an embedded computer capable of interpreting the footage and taking split-second actions to keep you and your passengers safe.

But what happens if your windshield develops a crack, necessitating a full replacement? Like any piece of precision equipment, that camera needs recalibration anytime there’s a change that might impact its ability to function properly. Recalibration is a job best handled by experts like Safelite® , the largest auto glass specialist company in the United States. Safelite® has the tools and experience to do the job right.

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How To Get Your Camera Recalibrated

Numerous events might cause the need to recalibrate your forward-facing camera, but the most common is after windshield replacement. A single unfortunate run-in with a piece of road debris is often enough to warrant the need for a new windshield.

The recalibration of your forward-facing camera is absolutely crucial to the reliable function of the advanced safety features we mentioned earlier and recalibration is called for by nearly every manufacturer after windshield replacement. And because of the crucial role your forward-facing camera plays in your safety, this is a job best left to experienced professionals. Thankfully, the experts at Safelite® can often provide both replacement and recalibration in a single appointment, meaning greater convenience for you.

The recalibration process for your vehicle will typically fall within one of two types: static recalibration or dynamic recalibration. With static recalibration, a manufacturer-specified target is placed a certain distance in front of the parked vehicle, and the forward-facing camera sensors are aligned with the target to ensure that the camera has a clear, unobstructed view of the roadway. Dynamic recalibration occurs while the vehicle is being driven at a specified speed on well-marked roads. Some vehicles require a dual recalibration, which is a combination of both static and dynamic recalibration. Safelite ® will let you know your vehicle’s specific camera recalibration needs when you schedule an appointment. Safelite® has experience in both types of forward-facing camera recalibration, and is well-versed in advanced safety systems in general.

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Safety Benefits Of A Forward-Facing Camera

Your vehicle’s forward-facing camera is a key piece to the automotive safety puzzle. It activates every time you start your vehicle, supplying a live feed to one or more of the car’s embedded modules. It’s what those embedded modules do with the live feed that makes it such an asset. This is why it just makes sense to work with the experts at Safelite ® who can handle all of your recalibration needs, in addition to windshield repairs or replacements.

Simply put, your forward-facing camera is essential to a whole host of advanced safety features, depending on your specific make and model. For instance, if your vehicle has forward collision warning and/or automatic emergency braking, the camera scans for collision hazards. If such a hazard is detected, a warning will be issued to the driver or the vehicle will apply the brakes automatically to help avoid the accident. If your vehicle is equipped with lane departure warning or lane keep assist, the camera’s feed is used to warn you if you’re about to drift into another lane.

That same forward-facing camera is also a critical component in other complex advanced safety features, including helping your vehicle see pedestrians in the road if equipped with pedestrian detection – another layer on top of the standard forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking systems. And more recent vehicle safety innovations even allow some vehicles to swerve automatically out of harm’s way to avoid certain types of collisions.

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Put all this together and you have a vehicle that can react to potential crash risks more quickly and reliably than even the most alert of drivers, thanks largely to that little camera mounted to the windshield. This is why it’s important to make sure your camera is properly recalibrated whenever your windshield is replaced if your vehicle requires it.

For expert windshield replacement and recalibration services, visit Safelite.com to schedule your appointment.

Feature Photo By Brian A Jackson /Shutterstock

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