Following a post on the 5th December: Volvo Car UK recommends Volvo-standard windscreen repairs to maintain vehicle safety standards, Taxiarchis Konstantopoulos, Managing Director, Autoglass®, rights a response to the article.
Dear Editor,
I am writing with regards to an article dated 5th December, ‘Volvo Car UK recommends Volvo-standard windscreen repairs to maintain vehicle safety standards’, to address a number of pertinent issues relating to windscreen replacement and ADAS calibration.
The article recommends Volvo drivers use only Volvo Car UK technicians and windscreens to maintain vehicle standards. While we understand Volvo Car UK would like Volvo technicians to carry out windscreen repairs on their vehicles, limiting any windscreen repairs or replacements to the manufacturer restricts the options available to fleet drivers. It is paramount that fleet decision-makers have adequate choice to ensure there is necessary market competition, to promote best practice and set the highest safety standards.
At Autoglass®, we pride ourselves on the incredibly high standards of our supply chain. Our technicians use glass manufactured to exact OEM standards, often originating from the same production lines. Our glass is benchmarked against the same quality standards – the only difference from OEM windscreens is that the glass our technicians use doesn’t have the manufacturer logo. We commissioned Transport Research Laboratory to investigate any material differences in the ADAS calibration outcomes for Volvo vehicles using OEM or OEM equivalent windscreens. They concluded there were ‘no material differences’ and ‘no performance or safety related issues’ between an OEM or OEM equivalent windscreen.
We are the industry leader in ADAS calibration and champion the role that ADAS plays in improving driver safety. Our calibration service provides the easiest, safest journey for every customer. Regardless of whether a static or dynamic calibration is required, our technicians endeavour to replace the glass and calibrate the sensor in the same appointment. This is incredibly important as it reduces any risk between the time of glass replacement and calibration, including on-board diagnostic checks prior to windscreen removal.
Our 315 trained ADAS technicians have the tools, systems and expertise to safely adjust and replace a windscreen on any vehicle. We were first to market with an ADAS calibration solution and have led the industry ever since. Alongside the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI), Autoglass® designed and developed a new ADAS Accreditation for vehicle technicians this year. We also developed the ADAS Code of Practice with Thatcham in 2016 and ADAS Best Practice Guidelines for Fleet with Brake. Our experts sit on influential industry steering committees, including SMMT and Thatcham.
Our technicians completed 45,591 ADAS calibrations in the first six months of 2018, including 1,039 ADAS calibrations on Volvo vehicles. All 1,039 of these appointments were dynamic calibrations, with the calibration undertaken immediately after the screen replacement as part of a mobile appointment, at a location convenient to the customer, significantly reducing any downtime because the vehicle does not need to be driven to a controlled workshop environment. By the end of 2018, we will have calibrated more than 500,000 vehicles, providing us with more combined ADAS systems expertise than any other aftermarket entity.
To say that Volvo technicians alone should work on Volvo vehicles ignores these figures, our market leading position on ADAS calibration, as well as the expertise of our ADAS technicians.
Yours faithfully,
Taxiarchis Konstantopoulos, Managing Director, Autoglass®
