ADAS Camera Calibration in Raleigh, NC

What the forward camera controls

I-CAR, the collision repair industry’s training body, says forward facing cameras control lane departure warning, collision braking and adaptive cruise control. Those three are the ones that matter when the camera is out of line.

• Lane departure warning and lane keeping. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says lane departure systems use cameras to track the vehicle’s position within the lane. If the camera’s idea of straight ahead is off, its idea of where the lane lines are is off too.
• Forward collision warning and automatic braking. IIHS describes front crash prevention as systems that detect a vehicle ahead, warn the driver, precharge the brakes and, in most cases, brake automatically if the driver does not respond. On some cars the camera does this alone; on others it works with the radar in the bumper.
• Adaptive cruise control. The car holds a set gap to the vehicle in front. The camera, the radar or both judge that gap.

IIHS research found that forward collision warning with automatic braking cut rear-end crashes in half, and that the warning alone cut them by 27 percent. Those figures are for systems working as designed. A calibration is how you keep yours working as designed after the glass in front of it has changed.

Why a new windshield moves the camera

The camera is not fixed to the body of the car or the dash. It clips into a bracket that is bonded to the inside of the windshield. When the old windshield comes out, the bracket goes with it. The new glass arrives with its own bracket, the camera is clipped into it, and the glass is set into fresh urethane. Every one of those steps can move the camera’s aim by a fraction of a degree.

A fraction of a degree sounds like nothing. But the camera is not looking at the glass; it is looking far down the road. A small angle at the windshield becomes a much larger error at the distance where the camera reads lane lines and judges how far away the next car is. That is why the vehicle makers treat the windshield as part of the camera system.

I-CAR lists the events that may require aiming a forward facing camera: removing the windshield, removing the rearview mirror, or removing the camera itself. It also says the requirements differ by year, make and model, which is why it keeps a search tool of the makers’ own calibration requirements. One example from that tool, the 2019 Subaru Forester’s EyeSight stereo camera, lists ‘If windshield is removed or replaced’ and ‘If wheel alignment is performed’ among its calibration events. The Subaru windshield replacement page goes into EyeSight in more detail.

Static and dynamic camera calibration

There are two ways to aim a forward camera, and the vehicle maker’s procedure decides which one your car gets. Some cameras need both.

Static calibration

I-CAR describes static calibration as a target or several targets positioned at set places in front of the vehicle, after which a scan tool starts the aiming procedure. The car does not move. The camera looks at a pattern whose size and distance it knows, and the scan tool tells it where straight ahead is. Static work needs level ground and space in front of the car, with the targets at measured distances.

Dynamic calibration

In a dynamic calibration the vehicle is driven down the road, sometimes connected to a scan tool, at or below a set speed for a set time or distance, while the camera learns the lane lines and the road. I-CAR notes it may need roads clear of snow or rain and without heavy traffic or many curves. Around North Raleigh, I-540 and US 1 outside the rush hours are the kind of long, well marked road a dynamic procedure looks for. A wet afternoon or stop and go traffic on Capital Boulevard is not.

Both methods as I-CAR defines them.

	Static	Dynamic
Where	Standing still, targets in front of the car	On the road
Tools	Targets and a scan tool	A scan tool on many cars, then a drive
What can delay it	No level, open space for the targets	Rain, snow, heavy traffic, winding roads

Impex’s technicians complete both static and dynamic calibrations in one visit, and Impex says most calibrations take between 30 minutes and 2 hours, depending on the vehicle and the method.

How a calibration fits into the windshield visit

1. VIN check. Before the visit Impex checks the glass against your vehicle by VIN, the step that also shows which camera and which calibration the car needs.
2. The camera comes off. The technician unclips the camera and any cover from the old glass before the windshield is cut out.
3. New glass in. The windshield is set in urethane. Impex puts this part of the job at about one hour, plus a short cure.
4. The camera goes back. It is clipped into the bracket on the new glass and plugged in.
5. Calibration. Static, dynamic or both, as the maker’s procedure for your vehicle asks. Impex performs it on site immediately after the replacement.
6. Checks and hand-back. You are told when the car is safe to drive. Impex says most drivers are back on the road within two hours of the windshield job.

Where the calibration is finished depends on the method. A dynamic calibration happens on the road. A static one needs level ground and room for the targets, which not every driveway or parking deck in North Raleigh has. Impex tells you when you book how your vehicle’s calibration will be handled. In North Raleigh the glass work itself is mobile: Impex comes to the vehicle. See the North Raleigh service areas.

Other reasons a camera may need aiming

A new windshield is the most common reason, but not the only one. From I-CAR’s list and its Subaru example:

• Removing or replacing the rearview mirror, where the mirror and camera share a mount.
• Removing or replacing the camera itself.
• A wheel alignment, on vehicles whose maker lists it, as Subaru does for the Forester’s EyeSight camera.
• Collision work at the front of the car, which may also bring the radar into it. See ADAS radar calibration in Raleigh.

Signs the camera is not reading the road

Some cars put up a message straight away if the camera cannot see properly or has not been calibrated. Others say nothing, and the first sign is in how the car drives. Things drivers notice:

• A driver assistance warning light or a message that lane keeping or the pre-collision system is unavailable.
• Lane keeping that nudges the wheel when you are centered, or pulls toward one line.
• Collision warnings for cars in the next lane, parked cars or shadows, or none when they should come.
• Adaptive cruise that brakes for no reason or holds an odd gap.

If any of that starts after glass work, have the calibration checked before you rely on those systems. Our article on dashboard warnings after a new windshield goes through the messages and what to do.

Paying for it

In North Carolina, glass breakage is a comprehensive loss: the NC Department of Insurance lists it among the losses Other Than Collision coverage pays, less any deductible. Whether your insurer pays the calibration as part of the glass claim is a question for your insurer, and the answer goes in the quote. The ADAS calibration cost page covers what drives the price and what to ask. Under G.S. 58-3-180 you choose who repairs your vehicle, and Impex works with all major insurance providers.

Why have the glass company do it

You can have one company fit the windshield and take the car to a dealer for the calibration. The trouble is the gap in between: a car that has had its glass replaced and has not had its camera aimed is a car whose safety systems are running on a guess. Impex performs ADAS calibration on site immediately after windshield replacement, so the job leaves as one job. Impex quotes are fully inclusive, with no hidden fees, upsells, delivery charges, fuel fees or disposal fees.

Raleigh Autoglass is a website of Impex Auto Glass, the North Carolina auto glass company with shops in Greensboro and Charlotte. It is not connected with any other business that uses a similar name. Read more about Impex.

Questions people ask