Shop changes name to Advanced ADAS Calibration Centers to reflect new business model

Oct. 4, 2019
Founded in 1995 by Jason and Janet Bigelow, the original shop in Keyport, NJ still handles traditional services along with ADAS calibration, while their second facility in nearby Old Bridge is strictly calibration, filling a growing void in the market.

Whether reading ABRN or Motor Age, ADAS shows up in a lot of articles. While some Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems have actually been around quite a while—anti-lock brakes, air bags, traction control, collision mitigation—they’re now being integrated with increasingly intricate sensor systems as the technology evolves toward self-driving cars. And with repair costs and complexity going up, the shop sector watches and wonders about the future.

At a Glance:
Advanced ADAS Calibration Centers
Keyport, NJ
Location
Jason & Janet Bigelow
Owners
2
No. of shops
24
Years in business
5
No. of employees
100
Total no. of vehicles per week
$1.2 million
Annual gross revenue

Some, however, are taking a more proactive approach. For instance, Advanced Tire & Auto Centers recently changed their name to Advanced ADAS Calibration Centers (AACC) to reflect their new business model. Founded in 1995 by Jason and Janet Bigelow, the original shop in Keyport, NJ still handles traditional services along with ADAS calibration, while their second facility in nearby Old Bridge is strictly calibration, filling a growing void in the market.

“We’re unique in New Jersey because we’re the first one,” says Jason Bigelow. “The next closest dedicated ADAS calibration center is North Carolina.”

As the Bigelows noted in a press release, “today's cameras, radar and other sensors require careful calibration to keep them working properly, and demand continues to grow for the specialized ADAS training, expertise and diagnostic technology…”

“For example,” offers Bigelow, “if I’m off one millimeter calibrating a radar unit on a Honda, it will affect that vehicle’s emergency braking by up to 75 feet, That’s why it’s important to stay on factory tools and have certified people who specialize in this to do the job.”

With demand for these skills and technology primarily coming from local insurance companies and body shops, the Bigelows have essentially switched from one industry to another.

“We ended up migrating more toward the collision industry from about 2012 on,” Bigelow explains. “Last year there was a 44% increase in what we were doing; by the end of that year it was up to 68% in ADAS assistance. We opened a second location to just service our collision industry. We’re expecting by this time next year to experience another 40-45% increase in calibration.

“Probably the most defining moment was when we started taking lifts out of the building,” he recalls. “That just goes against all logic of the repair business. But because of what’s involved with these 360 degree camera systems and the ADAS calibrations, I need a very strict environment: non-reflective paint, non-reflective walls, special LED lighting placed in various locations. I also need 30 feet on each side of the car and up to 60 feet front and back to calibrate the camera systems correctly.”

This impetus for precision was present from the very start. “When we opened in 1995, our primary focus was to diagnose vehicles correctly,” Bigelow states. “Back then the average car had two computers; today most cars have up to 200. Through different techniques, whether oscilloscopes or lab scopes, we approached the cars analytically like we were repairing computers, so we had to change our focus and turn more into IT professionals.”

To that end they accumulated 21 factory scan tools, an “exorbitant investment…in the industry,” he notes. “To help offset the cost of what we were spending, upwards of a million dollars to purchase just the software and equipment, it was just a natural transition to what we were already doing. Once we partnered with the collision industry, we became the front of the ADAS revolution. We’re now seeing cars with 30 miles on them, 200 miles; we’re solving problems at an engineering level that even the manufacturers haven’t seen.

“If you’ve ever (parallel) parked in a city, other cars tap your bumpers getting in and out,” says Bigelow. “[Some] systems get uncalibrated just by minor impacts, and the customers are getting collision mitigation warnings on the dashboard. This requires recalibrating the radar; there’s a targeting system which checks it at different distances.”

At the other end of the spectrum, AACC also provides body shops and insurance companies collision analytics. “If a vehicle’s involved in a crash or a loss, we go in with our factory equipment and do a pre-repair analysis to determine what the car needs to be put back to a pre-loss condition,” he outlines.

“Then there’s a post-repair analysis to make sure none of the systems were affected during the repair process,” Bigelow continues. “For instance, if a car is put into a heated paint booth, (some ADAS) systems can only go to a certain temperature before they’re affected. Or were any systems disturbed while the car was being welded on? Was the battery ever disconnected so the camera lost its calibration?

“Once repairs are made, we then calibrate the radars, the blind spot, collision mitigation, eyesight, lane departure, infrared and night vision systems. An average calibration is two hours, and they can go up to four hours. Between the ADAS calibrations and the collision analytics, in one month we did 132 vehicles.”

The name change also heralded a push to build awareness. “We have customers who have brand new cars with ADAS problems,” notes Bigelow. “Unfortunately what happens is they turn these systems off because their dash will beep or buzz, which becomes very annoying. I have vehicles with 50 miles, 100 miles on them involved in heavy collisions, heavy losses, and the ADAS were never given the opportunity to do what they were designed to do.

“In many cases it’s as simple as someone placing a bumper sticker over a blind spot module. So we’re trying to educate customers that ADAS does work. While we’re still quite a ways from the fully autonomous vehicle, the manufacturers need these consumers to make this work.”

They’ve certainly got their work cut out for them, although Bigelow contends “that this is ultimately what we’ve always done. As cars became more advanced, so did we. We’ve always made our living staying five years head of the curve. The motto that’s painted on all of the shop walls and printed on our shirts is ‘continued education in the pursuit of excellence.’ And we hold true to that today.”

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