Crash Detection Fault warning on your Corsa, Astra, Mokka or Grandland? That's Vauxhall IntelliDrive reporting the front radar or camera can't read the road reliably. Common after a parking knock, a bumper repair, or front-end work that disturbed the sensor aim. Here's what's happening and what the recalibration costs.
You can drive the car. Adaptive Cruise Control, Automatic Emergency Braking (Forward Collision Alert) and Lane Keep Assist all stay offline until the system is recalibrated. Normal brakes, steering and conventional cruise still work. Leave more following distance until it's sorted.
Vauxhall mounts the forward radar behind the front grille emblem and a supporting camera at the top of the windscreen. IntelliDrive reads from both for adaptive cruise, automatic emergency braking and lane keep. Here's what we see disturbing them.
The Corsa and Mokka in particular take a lot of urban parking impact: trolley contact, kerb strikes, parking sensor brushes. None leave visible damage but any can shift the radar bracket enough to throw Crash Detection. The fault may not appear straight after the impact; it can build up over time.
The trigger we see most. A repaired or refitted bumper, a new grille, even a respray over the radar area changes the carrier geometry. The radar moves with it, and IntelliDrive drops out. Body shops do the panels and paint but the ADAS calibration step often gets missed.
Vauxhall, Peugeot, Citroen and DS all run the same underlying Stellantis platform with the same forward radar in similar positions. The calibration procedure is shared, and the same workshop tooling covers all four. If you've heard the same fix on a Peugeot 208 or Citroen C3, that's why.
On Vauxhalls with the windscreen-mounted multifunction camera (Grandland, Astra, Insignia), the camera backs up the radar. A new windscreen moves the camera, and Crash Detection can flag even though the radar itself is fine. The camera needs recalibrating alongside the radar in those cases.
The Vivaro panel van sees harder daily use than passenger Vauxhalls. Frequent kerb contact during delivery work, parking sensor knocks in tight loading bays, and front-end repairs are all more common. Same calibration job as on a Corsa, just a more common trigger profile.
Vauxhall's automatic emergency braking is labelled Forward Collision Alert on some models. It reads from the same radar as Crash Detection, so the two often flag together. One underlying cause, several dashboard surfaces. A single calibration usually clears both.
If the trigger was a real impact, the radar housing or bracket may be cracked, not just shifted out of aim. Calibration won't hold on damaged hardware. A diagnostic scan tells you which case you're in before any work is booked.
Worth checking first: look along the front bumper for uneven gaps that signal a previous repair, and confirm whether Forward Collision Alert or Lane Keep are also flagging. If Crash Detection is still showing, the radar needs recalibrating, and on Grandland or Astra the camera too.
On a Vauxhall that means a static procedure: the workshop sets a manufacturer-spec target board at the correct distance, connects via OBD with DiagBox or a Stellantis-compatible diagnostic platform, and runs the alignment routine. The same procedure covers Peugeot, Citroen and DS variants.
It's a fixed £349 through our network: scan, calibration, certificate. If the scan shows the radar was damaged in the impact, you'll know the cost before any work goes ahead. There's no charge for the diagnostic if you decide not to go ahead. The full procedure is in our ADAS calibration guide.
Pricing is fixed across our network. Same price wherever you are in the UK. Your tier is set by what work has been done, not by your postcode or your car's make.
All prices include the diagnostic scan, the calibration procedure (static, dynamic, or both as required), a post-calibration check, and a calibration certificate. No charge for diagnostic if you decide not to proceed.
Send your registration and a line on what's happened. We'll come back with the fixed price, the nearest accredited workshop, and the soonest available slot.
They're closely related but different warning texts. Crash Detection is the broader IntelliDrive status flag, telling you the system can't reliably detect collisions. Forward Collision Alert is the specific AEB feature, the part that intervenes if a collision is imminent.
When Crash Detection is offline, Forward Collision Alert can't run either. Both depend on the same radar. One calibration brings both back.
Radar calibration is a fixed £349 across our accredited network, the same wherever you are in the UK. That covers the diagnostic scan, the calibration itself, and a calibration certificate. One session covers up to three ADAS systems, so if Forward Collision Alert and Lane Keep also dropped out, they're done together.
Yes. Vauxhall, Peugeot, Citroen and DS all run the same Stellantis platform with the same forward radar. The calibration procedure and target board spec are shared across the group. Our network handles all four interchangeably on the Stellantis-platform tooling.
No. Any workshop with Stellantis-compatible diagnostic equipment (DiagBox or equivalent) and a calibration bay can do it, and our accredited network is set up for that. The dealer will charge their own labour rate for the same procedure. The certificate we issue is accepted by insurers and sits on the car's service history.
The cross-make guide for the IntelliDrive/Active Safety Brake/FCW family under different brand names.
Universal guide for ADAS calibration when the windscreen camera is the trigger.