ADAS calibration in Raleigh, NC, done with your new windshield.

The forward camera does not float in the cabin. It clips to a bracket bonded to the glass. When the windshield is replaced, the camera comes off with the old glass and goes back on with the new, and its aim shifts. The shift may be tiny, but the camera judges lane lines and the distance to the car ahead far down the road, where a tiny error at the glass grows into a large one.

I-CAR lists removing the windshield, removing the rearview mirror or removing the camera itself as events that may require the camera to be aimed again. It also says requirements vary by year, make and model, which is why it keeps a search tool of the makers’ calibration requirements. Your vehicle’s VIN is what tells Impex which procedure applies.

Impex performs ADAS calibration on site immediately after windshield replacement, and its technicians complete both static and dynamic calibrations in one visit. That is the point of this site: the glass and the calibration as one job, without a separate trip to a dealer afterwards. The details for the windshield camera are on ADAS camera calibration in Raleigh.

There are two ways to aim a camera, and the vehicle maker decides which one your car takes. Some cars need both.

For a dynamic calibration around North Raleigh, the stretches of I-540 across the north of the city and US 1 toward Wake County’s northern edge give the long, well marked lanes the procedure looks for, outside the rush hours. A static calibration needs a flat, open place for the targets. Where your car’s calibration is finished depends on which method it needs, and Impex will tell you when you book.

Not every calibration is about the windshield. I-CAR says forward radar sensors sit in or behind the front bumper or grille and feed adaptive cruise control, collision braking and collision warning. Calibration is normally required after the radar is replaced, and may be required after the bumper or grille is removed or after front structural repair. Static radar targets are generally metal and pyramid shaped and need a large area clear of metal objects.

So a windshield alone does not usually mean radar work, and a quote that adds radar work to every windshield job deserves a question. A fender bender that moved the bumper is a different story. Impex performs ADAS radar calibration on site, without a separate dealership appointment. See ADAS radar calibration in Raleigh.

Calibration follows a replacement, so a chip repaired early can save you the calibration as well as the glass. ROLAGS, the repair standard run by the National Windshield Repair Division, treats stone breaks up to two inches across and single line cracks up to 14 inches as repairable. Impex’s own test is simpler: a repair may work when the damage is small, shallow and away from the edges of the glass.

• Usually repairable: a small chip or bullseye, away from the edges and out of the driver’s direct view.
• Usually a replacement: a crack that reaches the edge, damage right in front of the driver, several breaks at once, or damage in the patch of glass the camera looks through.
• Calibration: a resin repair leaves the glass and the camera bracket where they are, so it does not move the camera. A replacement does.

If the camera’s view is the problem, even a good repair can leave a mark in the exact spot the camera reads through. That is a case for new glass, and new glass on a camera car means ADAS camera calibration.

In North Carolina glass damage normally goes under comprehensive coverage. The NC Department of Insurance lists breakage of glass, and missiles or falling objects, among the losses that Other Than Collision coverage pays, less any deductible. North Carolina has no law that waives the deductible for glass, so unless your policy includes full glass coverage, your comprehensive deductible applies. Ask your insurer whether the calibration is part of the glass claim; the ADAS calibration cost page explains what to ask.

Two more points from NC law and the NCDOI. Under G.S. 58-3-180 the policy must let you choose who repairs your vehicle, and the insurer pays the same whichever you choose. And a comprehensive glass claim is not an at-fault accident, so it does not add Safe Driver Incentive Plan points, though your insurer may still look at how often you claim. Impex works with all major insurance providers.

Raleigh Autoglass is a website of Impex Auto Glass, a North Carolina auto glass company with shops in Greensboro and Charlotte and mobile service across the state. In North Raleigh the work is mobile. Two unrelated businesses use names that sound like this site’s; we are not connected with either. If you booked with Impex, your job is done by Impex.

Impex quotes are fully inclusive, with no hidden fees, upsells, delivery charges, fuel fees or disposal fees, and the glass is checked against your vehicle by VIN before the visit. Read more about Impex Auto Glass.