To speak to "B"ron or "S"lites ability to withstand some lawsuits... I have witnessed on many occasions the Das1000 show successful calibration screen which is all that is required to get paid by insurance here. I am a TECHNICIAN and know my trade so I do my research and keep informed. This scanner gives you the "XY" coordinates and I can tell you without a doubt that vehicles at great numbers are being given back to customers without proper calibration and substantially out of range of OEM spec. That being said the dealers cant be fully trusted to complete these calibrations either. I have to assume and hope that the engineers who are designing these systems are allowing the vehicle to recalibrate themselves as the software is already installed in the vehicle and we merely trigger it to recalibrate on demand... I HOPE.

Interesting thread. I have wrote extensively on this issue here on my blog and in other articles. Here is what is true, Safelite can do whatever they want to do because they own their business and have enough money to be capable to withstand a liability claim. There is power in having billions of dollars in revenue. They do have a calibration system that has been working very well in Europe but there were some more hoops they had to jump through here in the U.S. Which is why there was such a delay in beginning their program. Yes, they do have to get the proprietary info from the car makers but they have the money and the power to do it and they have. Period.

Bottom line. Will their calibrations be as good as the dealers themselves? We won't know until they have a rash of failures. But they don't care, they have the money and power to withstand a few lawsuits. They are constantly in court anyway, what does a few more suits mean to them. Very little. Only if a few deaths or serious injuries occur, heaven forbid, will half-assed calibrations be an issue.

Now, to the points related to mobile calibrations. There are dynamic and static calibrations. Some can be done easily with a portable tool and others that will require more involved tools, procedures and requirements that mobile service does not allow. I believe that in Europe, most installations are shop only and calibrations are done easily because of the environment. Here our customers demand mobile service and calibrations done on a mobile basis may not be possible. We'll have to see what happens.

The best way to beat the 800lb gorilla in the room is to own your own market and out last them.

Just my thoughts, take them for what their worth.

"The best way to beat the 800lb gorilla in the room is to own your own market and out last them."
Thanks for being so candid, this is very hard to do when they involve themselves in every aspect of our businesses.
This needs to change.

i was in Obriens (belron) last week. They had lovely pamphlets detailing what calibration was,etc, for the customers to read. One thing i noticed is they recommend recalibration be done every year. Or earlier if the vehicle has an "event"... im assuming an event could be a small fender bender, big pot hole, solar eclipse.... Seems to me there is a legal out for obriens there.

AGP
Before you comment.. do you know what the Auto Maker Recommends on cars needing recalibration? how often and when?

Bob,

Is there any publication that shows which vehicles need which type of calibration?

OUR COMPANY HAS NOW OFFERED A TECH TO COME BY APPOINTMENT THE INSURANCE PICKS UP THE TAB . The set up consists of strings intersecting in a diamond pattern. the calibration is set up through the obd system . the different tints and shades vary from manufacturer thus the calibration is needed for the camera to accept the parameters of the series of tests. a reflective sign is placed on the intersection of the diamond pattern once all tests are done the system send a printout validation of the results . The calibration works during months that are not hindered by snow or ice on the roads . from my understanding this system is worth over 30 thousand canadian plus training time for the tech

Belron has bought into a European system with flaws of not being north american or Asian friendly by racing to be in front they over looked some aspects of the problem. Industry insiders claim these system will be standard on all cars by 2020

They all ready are pretty much standard
the most basic of car has them

by the way did you realize this thread started almost 4 years ago

Honestly, our current policy involves a waiver acknowledging that it is solely the customers responsibility to make a trip to their dealership to be recalibrated after install. We as a shop take no responsibility for the recalibration process or anything that may go wrong as a result of the customer not having this work completed in a timely fashion after install. As for non OEM Parts. Ive already had this problem in the front office. Ins companies won't authorize glass for install unless it is the dealer part BC they can't guarantee that the "non oem glass" will calibrate correctly. Then we have to get authorization for the dealer part anyway. Talk about a PITA. The last one we ordered in was not OEM and calibrated perfectly after the fact but her insurance wouldn't cover the cost BC it was not an OEM part.

No Belron can not do Calibrations on the spot!!!!! only in a shop under a controlled environment also they can not do all cars they are limited to what models they can due!!! so it is just a lot of BS for marketing to the Insurance Industry.

not true once again a person speaking about Big s who doesn't work there.

we ARE doing mobile recalibration.

I worked with S-lite for 17+ years from tech to management. They will do what ever it takes to get a job in there system. Big wings came through regularly to make sure we tell customers that we only use OEE glass, but will have the SGC logo on it. Which is BS. Now that I'm on my own recertified and AGROSS certified ect. And I refuse to get on board to there preferred provider program they tell my customers that call in that they will not warranty any work preformed on there car. Even if I agree to get on board with there program they still don't warranty the work performed by another company period. Going back recalibration, S-lite definitely has to do a recalibration on every car that has the lane departure camera on the windshield because it's not a true OE glass but an SGC AFTERMARKET GLASS period, no matter how they work it. If a camera is mounted to the glass most of the time it does need recalibration, no way to tell until until it until it's not working properly.

Food for thought. With almost every certification that S-lite had to offer I had, when I left the BS behind and went on my own, why do the insurance companies not honor all the certifications I had with them??? I recertified with several of the certifications they honored and none of the certifications from S-lite were anywhere on the list?

Last thing. Pilkington is the OE manufacture for most of Toyota now. So if I use pilkington glass on a Toyota that has pilkington name under Toyota, wouldn't that be putting a OE manufactured glass back in? And yes I do under stand it's no quite the same as using the dealer OE glass which has Toyota on it but still made by the same manufacturer pilkington.

Problem being unless the dot code states that it is OEM glass it won’t recal the camera 17-current @ the dealer for Toyota. Then there is the problem of the manufacturer voiding the vehicles warranty if other than OEM is used on models with adas systems. Subaru had a huge bulletin on this a year ago or so for vehicles with eyesight systems. Then bmw & gm are self calibrating. Looking into the opti aim my self. But for the most part I try to setup replacement at the local dealership so it can be calibrated as soon as I’m done. My biggest concern is my customers safety and there investment.

Isn't it illegal to operate an electronic device while operating a motor vehicle? I wouldn't want you driving my car