I was recently featured on the glassBYTEs e-newsletter talking about a Mazda Surround View (360 View) Camera Calibration that we performed as well as a brief idea on where I believe the future of calibrations is headed. Check out the article below!
Precise Calibration Measurements are Here to Stay
August 25, 2022 by Travis Rains
trains@glass.com
Crown Collision Solutions in Massachusetts recently used a “unique” procedure complete with specific floor targets to perform a 360 degree camera calibration on a Mazda CX-9 with a passenger-side mirror replacement. Operations manager Tom Johnson expects such procedures to increase in frequency in the years to come as ADAS technology continues to advance.
Crown Collision works business-to-business with body, collision and automotive glass shops in performing calibrations. Recently, a body shop sent Crown Collision a customer with a newly-replaced passenger-side mirror on his Mazda. Calibration is necessary when windshields are replaced, but also in a number of other situations, such as an airbag reset or tire rotation.
Crown Collision works business-to-business with body, collision and automotive glass shops in performing calibrations. Recently, a body shop sent Crown Collision a customer with a newly-replaced passenger-side mirror on his Mazda. Calibration is necessary when windshields are replaced, but also in a number of other situations, such as an airbag reset or tire rotation.
More and more manufacturers are now incorporating surround views on their vehicles. “Based on what the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) states, generally speaking, whenever you take off a mirror on a vehicle equipped with surround view with cameras located on the bottom of the mirrors, calibration needs to be done,” Johnson says. “When the mirror is replaced or even removed and reinstalled, most manufacturers will state that the calibration should be performed because the camera has been dismounted and taken from where it was, and needs that confirmation that it is where it needs to be.”
For some vehicles, performing a surround-view calibration entails matching layered tape placed on the ground with the vehicle’s navigation system. But the process for some manufacturers is a bit different, as is the case with the Mazda CX-9. Photo courtesy of Crown Collision Solutions.
For some vehicles, performing a surround-view calibration entails matching layered tape placed on the ground with the vehicle’s navigation system. But the process for some manufacturers is a bit different, as Johnson notes with the work recently performed on the Mazda CX-9.
“Mazda has specific floor targets that the vehicle is taking pictures of to make sure it can visibly see those floor targets at very precise and specific measurements,” Johnson says. “The software tools and diagnostic tools we use have step-by-step procedures that will basically tell us ‘Okay, move the front right mat 30 centimeters way from the vehicle.’ They use very precise measurements.”
While the calibration was flagged as a hard code during diagnostics, Johnson advises that may not always be the case with all vehicles and manufacturers. Sometimes, digging is required to ensure the vehicle receives the necessary work to be safely back on the road.
Johnson expects to see more of those precise calibration procedures in the future, noting that they are already beginning to emerge in the vehicles of other manufacturers such as Honda and GMC.
“I don’t see it ever reversing,” he says. “I think it’s going to keep moving forward to more advanced and specific targeting systems, and ways to get very precise images for each unique vehicle make, model and manufacturer. The technology is only going to get better and better. There’s so much out there when it comes to targets and newer technology.”
Source: glassBYTES
