Hidden ADAS Failures: Why Radar Misalignment After a Collision Can Go Unnoticed

Modern vehicles often come equipped with advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) that rely on radar sensors to detect objects, measure distances, and assess the speed of other vehicles. Minor misalignments in the radar sensors can lead to inaccurate data, which can compromise the effectiveness of these systems.

During a collision, the force of the impact can dislodge or shift the position of the radar sensors, even if the damage to the vehicle appears minor. The mounting brackets or the alignment of the radar sensors can be affected, leading to misalignment.

We often have vehicles brought in for calibrations with an ADAS warning message on the dash after a collision. This typically indicates that there was or still is damage to the ADAS module, bracket, or wiring. These vehicles are diagnosed, repaired, calibrated, & road tested to confirm all ADAS functions are working properly.

We also have vehicles that are brought it for calibration that have no obvious signs of ADAS issues and no error messages, but still fail when we attempt calibration. This situation is concerning because without the error messages the driver may believe the ADAS is working properly, but the radar is out of alignment and may fail to detect obstacles or other vehicles correctly increasing the risk of accidents.

It is important to always follow the manufacturers service information when repairing a vehicle to confirm that all necessary ADAS calibrations are being completed.

Here are a few recent photos of vehicles in our shop that have had damage to radar mounting brackets causing calibration failure. In one photo, the wiring harness was zip-tied in front of the radar during repairs, causing calibration to fail. Only a couple of these vehicles had an indication of ADAS failure before the calibration was attempted.