Windscreen Replacement Costs Soar!
Thursday, 15. November 2018
This isn’t down to the cost of the glass itself, which is expensive enough, but more down to the cost of re-calibration of cameras and software. Something that most drivers are unaware of when they have a windscreen replaced.
Sadly this could well have an adverse effect on smaller independent windscreen replacement companies but could also lead to cars being less safe as the fitters, unable to re-calibrate as they don’t have the equipment, simply leave it leaving you with unsafe safety systems.
The safety systems fitted to new cars, called Advance Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) include autonomous emergency braking and lane assist, both of which rely upon cameras that operate through the windscreen. If the systems are not recalibrated following a windscreen replacement you may find that the car drifts out of its lane without detection or the emergency braking fails to identify an obstacle.
In 2015 just 1% of cars required recalibration. That has now increased to 9% of private cars and 34% of fleet/business cars as they tend to be newer. National Windscreens has invested £2 million in ADAS recalibration whilst Autoglass is launching 14 new recalibration centres and will have 70 workshops with the capability open by December 2018.
Dr Chris Davies, director of superiority at Belron (no seriously that’s his title), owners of Autoglass, explained why recalibration is necessary. When manufacturing the glass there are levels of tolerance and with slight differences in the positioning of the windscreen it can cause the cameras to effectively be in a different position.
Most cars require a static recalibration which can take place in a workshop but some must be dynamically recalibrated on the road. All recalibration must be carried out by a qualified engineer but dynamic recalibration needs the car to be driven at a fixed speed over a certain distance which can cause problems in city centres or at times of the year when you’ve got snow.
All of this makes it impossible for some smaller windscreen fitters to be able to do what is necessary to make the car safe so there is a risk that the recalibration doesn’t take place. Not good when your life could depend on it. If you know that your car doesn’t have ADAS systems fitted you should be fine but if in doubt make sure you use a major windscreen fitter.
