Car on a four-wheel alignment ramp with a camera calibration target set up ahead of it

ADAS Calibration After Wheel Alignment: When You Need It and When You Don't

Had the tracking done and a lane assist or adaptive cruise warning has come on since? Or booking an alignment and wondering whether ADAS calibration has to follow? For most routine alignments the answer is no: the wheels are set relative to the car and the sensors' straight-ahead reference stays where it was. The exceptions are real, and they turn on two things, the car's straight-ahead reference and the steering angle sensor. Here's how to tell which group you're in, and what calibration costs if you need it, from £162 inc VAT.

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Most alignments need nothing from us

A standard tracking adjustment sets the front wheels to the car's centreline and leaves the sensors where they were. The windscreen camera that runs lane keep and the radar behind the grille that runs adaptive cruise both still point where they did before the car went on the ramp. If no warning has appeared and the car holds its lane without a tug, there's nothing to book. What we do get asked about is the other case: an alignment that moved the car's straight-ahead line, or work that reached the steering angle sensor. That's what the rest of this page is for.

Why an alignment sometimes throws ADAS out

Every driver aid that steers or brakes for you works from a reference for straight ahead. Two things carry it. The first is the thrust line, the direction the car actually travels, which is set by the rear wheels. The windscreen camera was calibrated against it, and it judges where the lane sits relative to the car from that reference. The second is the steering angle sensor on the steering column, which tells lane keep and adaptive cruise how far the wheel is turned from centre.

A front-toe-only tracking job leaves the camera and radar alone. The front wheels get pointed straight and the thrust line stays put. The steering angle sensor is the one to ask about: if the garage centred the wheel and re-zeroed the sensor, the driver aids never notice. The car drives straighter than it did and the driver aids never notice.

Change the rear toe and the thrust line moves. The camera's stored straight-ahead now sits a fraction off the direction the car really goes, and lane keep starts reading the lane lines from the wrong angle. Fit new suspension arms or a steering rack, or take the column apart, and the steering angle sensor can lose its zero. Then the car believes it's turning slightly while it drives dead straight: lane keep behaves erratically, or adaptive cruise refuses to engage. Ask whether the steering angle sensor was reset as part of the job. Not every garage does it, and that gap is what turns up on the dashboard on the drive home.

There's a third case that isn't the alignment at all. If the car needed tracking because it hit a kerb or a pothole, the same hit can have shifted the front radar bracket or the camera mounting, and the alignment simply came first. The warning arrives after the tracking, so the tracking gets the blame.

Your warning, your make

The warning names the sensor that lost its reference: lane messages come from the windscreen camera, cruise messages from the front radar. Driving a Suzuki? Its guide covers the alignment case model by model. Ford and Citroen owners have an alignment question answered on their make pages too.

  • Lane assist fault

    Lane keep or lane departure warning since the tracking work: the camera-side story.

    Read more
    Routes

  • ACC deactivated

    Adaptive cruise unavailable or refusing to engage since the alignment.

    Read more
    Routes

  • Suzuki: ADAS after wheel alignment

    Which Suzukis carry a windscreen camera, why rear toe matters, and the Across exception.

    Read more
    Routes

  • Ford: alignment after a kerb strike

    The Puma question on the Ford page: the hit behind the alignment, not the tracking, is what moves the sensors.

    Read more
    Routes

  • Citroen: C3 after wheel alignment

    Routine tracking leaves the C3's camera and radar alone. The Citroen page covers when it doesn't.

    Read more
    Routes

  • How ADAS calibration works

    The procedure itself, target boards to certificate, including its own answer on wheel alignment.

    Read more
    Routes

Before you book, four things to check

  1. 1

    Ask what was adjusted

    Front toe only, or rear toe, camber and caster as well? Ask the alignment garage for the printout. A front-toe-only job that left the thrust line alone rarely needs anything from us. Rear changes are the ones to mention when you enquire.

  2. 2

    Ask whether the steering angle sensor was reset

    Put the question to the alignment garage. If they did and the warning is still on, the sensor isn't the story. If they didn't, that reset may be the whole fix. If it didn't, that reset may be the whole fix.

  3. 3

    Drive it straight with lane keep on

    Ten minutes on a clear, marked road. A steady pull to one side with lane keep active, or a warning that returns after every restart, means a reference has moved. A light that clears after a few miles and stays off needs nothing from you.

  4. 4

    Look at why the alignment was needed

    If it followed a kerb strike or a pothole, check the bumper line and the badge area for a knock. A radar bracket moved by the hit shows up after the tracking and gets blamed on it.

How we fix it

Two questions reach us after alignment work, and they get two different answers.

If a warning has come on since the tracking, start with a diagnostic scan at £54 inc VAT (£45 +VAT), itemised on its own line. It reads the steering angle sensor, the camera and the radar, and shows which reference moved. A steering angle sensor that only needs re-zeroing is its own step: on some platforms it runs as a step inside the camera calibration rather than as a separate line, and where it stands alone it books as a steering angle sensor calibration at £162 inc VAT (£135 +VAT). A camera that has lost its straight-ahead needs a front camera calibration, priced £162 inc VAT (£135 +VAT) at a service centre: the car sits level on the bay with the target board at the measured distance, and the camera is re-taught the car's geometry as the alignment left it. Adaptive cruise dropping out after the work points at the radar, and a front radar calibration is £162 inc VAT (£135 +VAT). Where both are needed, the highest-priced system is full price and each additional system is 35% off at a centre, with scans outside the discount.

If you're booking an alignment and want the calibration arranged too: we don't do alignment, your garage does. Have that done first. Calibration teaches the camera the car's straight-ahead as it stands on the day, so an alignment carried out afterwards would move the very reference it had just learned. Once the geometry is final, send us the registration and the alignment printout, and the centre confirms whether a calibration is needed at all. Often it isn't, and we say so.

The procedure itself, target board to paperwork, is in our ADAS calibration guide. When a calibration does run, the visit ends with that paperwork. Certificate to manufacturer tolerances, the same standard dealers issue. Your quote is confirmed in writing before anything is booked.

ADAS calibration prices

When an alignment does need a follow-up, it's normally one system: the windscreen camera for lane keep, or the front radar if adaptive cruise dropped out. Rates are the same at every service centre, per system, shown inc VAT with the net figure alongside. Your total is confirmed in writing before anything is booked.

Calibration — per system

Service At a service centre
Front camera calibration £162 inc VAT (£135 +VAT)
Front radar calibration £162 inc VAT (£135 +VAT)
Blind spot radar calibration £162 inc VAT (£135 +VAT)
360° / surround camera calibration £162 inc VAT (£135 +VAT)
Reversing camera calibration £206.40 inc VAT (£172 +VAT)
Parking sensor calibration £184.80 inc VAT (£154 +VAT)

Coding a replaced part to your vehicle

Service At a service centre
Front radar replaced £232.80 inc VAT (£194 +VAT)
Front camera replaced £229.20 inc VAT (£191 +VAT)
Blind spot radar replaced £226.80 inc VAT (£189 +VAT)
Reversing camera replaced £213.60 inc VAT (£178 +VAT)
  • When your job needs a diagnostic scan, it's £54 inc VAT (£45 +VAT), always itemised as its own line. It shows which systems were live before work started.
  • Two or more systems in one visit: the highest-priced system is full price, each additional system is 35% off at a centre. Scans aren't part of the discount. Front camera and front radar together come to £267.30 inc VAT (£222.75 +VAT).
  • A replaced camera or radar is coded to the vehicle and then calibrated, so a replacement job is the coding line above plus the calibration for that system, with the multi-system discount applied at a centre. Your written quote itemises both.
  • On mobile trade visits only: if the technician attends and the calibration can't be completed, a sensor fitted misaligned for example, a call-out fee of up to £72 inc VAT (£60 +VAT) applies.
  • Mobile calibration is available for garages and bodyshops with workshop conditions. Ask us.

Frequently asked questions

One of two references has moved. If the alignment changed the rear toe, the thrust line the windscreen camera was calibrated against has shifted, and lane keep is now reading the lane from a slightly wrong angle. If the work reached the steering column, or the garage didn't re-zero the steering angle sensor afterwards, the car believes the wheel is off-centre while you drive straight. A diagnostic scan tells the two apart before anything is booked. A camera that needs re-teaching is a front camera calibration job at a centre, £162 inc VAT (£135 +VAT). A steering angle sensor that only needs its zero back is £162 inc VAT (£135 +VAT) when it runs as its own job, and on some platforms it's a step inside the camera calibration instead.

Not as one booking with us: we calibrate, and alignment is your garage's job. The sequence matters more than the venue. Get the alignment done first, because the calibration teaches the camera the car's straight-ahead as it is on the day, and aligning afterwards moves that reference again. Then send us the registration and what was adjusted. If the printout shows front toe only and no warning is showing, the honest answer is that no calibration is needed. If rear toe or the thrust angle changed, or suspension parts were replaced, the follow-up is one system, the front camera, £162 inc VAT (£135 +VAT), with a slot often within the week, depending on centre availability.

No, and most don't. Setting the front toe to the car's centreline doesn't move the windscreen camera or the front radar, so a routine tracking job leaves those references exactly as they were. Ask whether the steering angle sensor was re-zeroed at the end; that's the one step a front-toe job can leave open. The cases that do need a follow-up: rear toe or thrust-angle adjustment on a car with lane keep or adaptive cruise, steering rack or column work, suspension components changed as part of the same job, or a warning or steady pull with lane keep active afterwards. Outside that list there's nothing to book, and we'd rather tell you that than take the job.

Front camera calibration is £162 inc VAT (£135 +VAT), front radar is the same, with the full rate card on this page. Two or more systems in one visit: the highest-priced system is full price and each additional system is 35% off at a centre. After an alignment it's usually one of those, not both: the camera when the message is a lane one, the radar when adaptive cruise has dropped out. A diagnostic scan, when your job needs one, is priced and itemised separately.

Because the reset re-zeroes one sensor and nothing else. It tells the car where centre is on the steering wheel; it says nothing to the windscreen camera about where the car's straight-ahead now lies. If the alignment moved the thrust line, the camera still holds the old reference and lane keep keeps complaining after the reset. That is the camera case, and it books as one system, the front camera, £162 inc VAT (£135 +VAT). Where the warning predates the alignment, or the car took a knock, the scan checks the radar and camera mountings as well.

Usually, with one test to be sure. Drive ten minutes on a clear, marked road with lane keep switched on. If the car holds its lane without a steady tug to one side and adaptive cruise engages as normal, the references are intact and there's nothing to book. A camera reading the lane from a moved thrust line doesn't always throw a light straight away; the pull is the earlier tell. If you feel it, or the alignment printout shows rear toe changes on a car with lane keep, ask us to check. The centre confirms whether anything is needed before a booking is made.

Read the message. Lane keep, lane departure and lane centring run on the windscreen camera, so a lane warning after an alignment points at the camera and its thrust-line reference. Adaptive cruise runs on the front radar. On most cars the radar was aimed against the same thrust line as the camera, so a rear-toe change can unsettle it too, though after an alignment it's the camera that complains far more often. If cruise dropped out as well, also suspect the kerb or pothole that made the alignment necessary, or a steering angle sensor that lost its zero, since adaptive cruise reads that too. The scan settles it, and each system is its own line: front camera £162 inc VAT (£135 +VAT), front radar the same.

No. It's a documented procedure, run against measured targets in a level bay, and our 80+ UK service centres run it to full manufacturer specification. Send your postcode and we route the job to the centre covering your area; the address comes with the booking. The dealer route mostly changes the price: £300 to £900 in quotes customers have shown us. Ours are on this page, per system, and the centre tells you first if your car needs nothing at all.

Get the alignment checked against your ADAS

Send your registration, what the garage adjusted, and any warning showing. We come back with the price, the nearest service centre and the soonest slot, or a straight answer that nothing's needed.

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