No. 104
Sensors & calibration
The cameras and radar that run automatic braking, lane keeping and blind-spot warning sit behind and inside the panels that get hit. A panel replaced without recalibration leaves a system that believes it is aimed somewhere it is not.
This is the newest part of the trade and the part most likely to be quietly skipped, because nothing on the dashboard necessarily complains. A camera behind a replaced windscreen, or a radar behind a replaced bumper cover, can be a few degrees out and still show no warning light at all.
A few degrees is a lot at the distance these systems are making decisions about. This is a safety item, and it is the reason this page exists on a site that is otherwise about paperwork.
Which calibrations are performed in-house and which are sublet to a specialist is a question about equipment, and the answer for any particular shop is available on request. This site does not claim a capability it was not given.
How to check it actually happened
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- Ask for the pre-repair scan and the post-repair scan. They are printouts with a date and a VIN.
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- Ask whether calibration was static, dynamic or both, because the manufacturer specifies which.
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- An absent warning light is not evidence. That is the entire problem with this item.
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- If calibration was declined by the insurer, ask for that in writing. It is your car and your decision to escalate.
Repairs that commonly require recalibration
| What was done | What it can affect | Evidence it was done |
|---|---|---|
| Windscreen replaced | Forward camera: lane keeping, automatic braking | Post-repair calibration report |
| Front bumper cover off or replaced | Radar: adaptive cruise, forward collision | Post-repair calibration report |
| Mirror or quarter panel | Blind-spot and cross-traffic sensors | Post-repair scan |
| Suspension or alignment | Any camera referenced to vehicle thrust line | Alignment printout plus calibration |
| Any airbag deployment | Occupant and crash sensing modules | Pre- and post-repair scan reports |
| Battery disconnected | Stored fault codes, module states | Post-repair scan |
Calibration takes time. That is not a reason to go elsewhere
Waiting for a calibration to be done properly is the single most common point at which somebody is told the claim would move faster somewhere else.
No insurer may fail to initiate and conclude with due dispatch an investigation of a claim for repairs to a motor vehicle on the basis of whether the repairs will be made by a particular contractor or repair facility.
Statutory passages on this page are quoted from the Wisconsin Statutes and were last checked in October 2026 against docs.legis.wisconsin.gov. Statutes are amended. This is general information about a public law, not legal advice, and it is not a statement about your particular claim. Read the section yourself, or ask a lawyer.
Questions about this work
My dashboard shows no warnings. Is that not enough?
No, and this is the most important sentence on this page. A camera or radar that is physically misaimed within its own tolerance of movement will frequently report itself as healthy. It is aimed wrongly and confident about it. Only a calibration procedure tells you where it is actually pointing.
Is this a way of adding cost to the bill?
It is a reasonable suspicion and it deserves a direct answer: the manufacturer publishes which repairs require calibration, that document is not secret, and you can ask to be shown the requirement for your vehicle. A charge that can be traced to a published procedure is not an upsell.
The other sections
| No. | Section | Covers |
|---|---|---|
| 101 | Collision repair | The ordinary case: something hit the car, or the car hit something, and panels, lights and the structure behind them have to come back to specification. |
| 102 | Structural & frame | When the hit reached past the panels. Straight is a measurement against the manufacturer's specification, in millimetres, not a judgement made by eye. |
| 103 | Paint & refinish | Colour match, blend, clear and cure. Paint has a minimum time that cannot be compressed, which is the single most common reason a delivery date moves. |
| 105 | Dents, trim & interior | The smaller end of 811121: paintless dent repair where the paint survived, bumper and trim work, and interior repair after a break-in or a deployment. |
Describe the damage on the telephone
You will get a straight answer about what this is likely to involve, what is likely to move the date, and whether it is even worth opening a claim.
Mon–Fri 7:30 AM–5:30 PM CT