The technology revolution continues

 

Manufacturers are seeming to head towards the development of the crashless car and along the way they are adding different technological components to vehicles to make them safer. This, in turn, will add pressure to a declining number of autobody repairers who will have to expand their knowledge-base to effect repairs to manufactures specifications. Mike Preece comments.

It seems as though developments by manufacturers are moving faster than most of the repair industry can handle. And it would seem that, before too long, car makers will be delivering crashless cars to the driving public.

This will have a dramatic impact on the autobody repair industry; an industry that is already shrinking in size, and it will put far greater strains on those that do remain to keep up with changes and technologies that were probably not even thought of when most crash repairers opened their doors.

Mike Preece of PAC Total Solutions picked up on a recent story from msnbc.com which highlighted the use of technologies from various manufacturers, designed to alert drivers of potential dangers and bad driving practice.
Preece said the vehicle repair industry in Europe and particularly in the UK has changed dramatically over the last few years.

“For example, in the UK, there has been a reduction in bodyshop numbers over the last 10 years or so, from over 10,000 down to the current numbers that are around 2500, and not counting minor cosmetic repairers,” he said.

According to the UK-based Auto Body Professionals Club’s newsletter, every week an average of six automotive businesses are failing in the UK.

Australia, which currently has a population roughly one third of the UK, still has almost 4500 vehicle repair shops.
“I am in no doubt that over the next few years, we will see a reduction, particularly in the major towns and cities, back to an overall total of no more than 3500 vehicle repair shops,” Preece said.

“We are already seeing a change in the average size of repair. This is created by a much higher level of insurance industry write-offs – for the repair industry, this means less major repairs and a much higher percentage of smaller jobs and of course ‘smart’ repairs (jobs $3000 and under).

“Bodyshops are already having to re-process their business to cope with this”.

Preece believes there will be a fairly major change in the way the car manufacturers deal with the vehicle repair industry.

“With all this new accident avoidance technology plus the introduction of new propulsion methods, hybrids, hydrogen power, electric vehicles etc, there is going to be an enormous increase in complexity when repairing a vehicle after an accident,” he said.

In a report for msnbc.com, Dan Carney delves into some of the new technologies being introduced into cars to assist drivers in avoiding accidents.

The 2010 Toyota Prius and Lexus LS 600h feature the advanced pre-collision system with driver attention monitor using radar to watch ahead for stopped cars. If it sees through its infrared driver monitoring camera that the driver isn’t looking forward it sounds a warning, flashes a red light and tugs on the driver’s seatbelt.

The Toyota/Lexus will issue a warning if an obstacle appears ahead and the computer thinks the driver hasn’t noticed.

The 2010 Mercedes E-Class sedan debuts the company’s attention assist system which detects a drowsy driver and sounds an alert before the driver reaches the dangerous “microsleep” phase, where they drift in and out of sleep.

Volvo offers the similar Volvo driver alert control on the new XC60 crossover SUV which  uses a camera that watches the road ahead and looks for instances of the car wandering in the lane, or even crossing out of the lane.

Volvo’s lane departure issues an alert if the car appears in danger of leaving the lane, and Toyota’s automatic lane keeping, available on the Prius, actually applies a small amount of steering input to shepherd the car back toward the middle of the lane.

Additionally, Volvo is fielding a fleet of 100 test cars on the streets of Europe which have instruments with driver-observing cameras for a three-year test to learn as much as possible about driver behaviour. This will be used to help refine systems, such as those that detect impaired drivers, which augment drivers’ capabilities for safer driving.

Nissan is working on an anti-drunk driving technology in its labs that would clamp down on drivers who are impaired by alcohol.

In the prototype car there are alcohol sensors in the seats that sniff out alcohol on the breath. If the intoxicated driver ignores the resulting dashboard warning alert and attempts to shift the car out of park, an alcohol sensor in the shifter tests the driver’s skin and locks the car in park if the driver fails the test.

The computer also watches the driver’s face for other signs of impairment.

Frequently closing the eyes elicits a warning that the driver is in danger of falling asleep and the car will yank on the seatbelt to jerk the driver to attention.

If the car wanders in the lane, Nissan’s prototype tells the driver “You have become negligent. Please stop your car in a safe place,” while repeatedly yanking on the seatbelt until the driver complies.

These are some of the technologies already available and planned to be introduced in the not-too distant future that autobody repairers are going to have to deal with in their day-to-day operations.