Oakes: Simple mistakes cost shops billable hours

In every auto center's service cycle, there's an occasional "string" of vehicles that occupy the shop's bays — at random. This week, it may be a grouping of Caravan/Town & Country utility; three weeks from now it may be a harras of Mustangs.

It's usually the more popular production models, of course, which brings me to this month's Aligning with ADAS column topic: common, repetitive mistakes.

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With information bombarding technicians from every direction, it is hard to decide which way to turn when it comes to finding the right solution to deliver a one-and-done repair. On top of that, there is the push by managers and customers, alike, to get the vehicle out of the bay ASAP.

Even though we know the proper diagnostic flow chart process, technicians — including me — get caught-up in the "time is money" element and edit those diagnostic steps that we feel are not pertinent to what's going on with the vehicle at hand. And it bites us in the butt — hard.

Recently, I have been either contacted (on multiple occasions the past two weeks) or reading about how — unimportant at the time —the trouble service bulletins (TSB) step has been bypassed. This brings time-consuming, unproductive results. And in most instances, it costs the shop and technicians, similarly; eating into profits and reminding all that once you've lost that penny, it's gone forever.

One of my more favorite events occurred at the end of June.

By now, we are all familiar with the reason for ADAS: It's the mechanical foundation to the autonomous vehicle (AV). And with manufacturers promoting the initial, "hands-free" driving option, everyone is wanting to have that option on their daily driver. Unfortunately for some manufacturers, the mechanics are in place, but the software development is lagging. Over-air or dealer-installed software updates are coming online to fulfill the brand-customer's desires; keeping the customer loyalty within the manufacturer-family of vehicles. Ford is no exception.

In this specific incident, the shop was experiencing a two-fold issue: a tablet that needed updating and not checking TSB updates. It started when the customer received a Ford letter stating their vehicle was now able to ride down the highway in semi-autonomous mode — (Ford bulletin: Optional Product Improvement Program 21G01).

But as with life, the customer didn't read the letter in full or understand the process. All the customer understood was that he could not drive down the highway with "no-hands" on the steering wheel, and "there's something wrong with my truck!"

Instead of going to the dealer, the vehicle owner showed up at his mom-and-pop "go-to" shop, complaining that the hands-free highway function was not working.

The shop verified the customer complaint, and, yes, the highway hands-free was not functional. So, the technician moved onto the scanner, skipping the electrical integrity check.

Despite a tablet that hadn't been updated in weeks, the pre-scan showed that all ADAS functions were code-free. So, the technician decided to perform a dynamic recalibration. (Ack! Without checking alignment specifications, first!)

That process went without a hitch, yet the highway function was inoperative. Then, the tech moved forward with checking component levels, ground and power, which passed.

At this point, the shop had spent five, unbillable hours only to be sitting at the same diagnostic spot as when the vehicle entered the bay.

That's when I got called into the mix.

The first step, verifying the customer's complaint, well, that's where the diagnostic flowchart fell apart. The technician in a rush to push the vehicle through the process — coupled with the little ADAS knowledge of that year, make and vehicle model — was where the real breakdown occurred.

While it is important to verify a properly functioning electrical base, it is equally important not to invent the wheel and check known, factory TSBs, because that is where this "repair" would have stopped hours beforehand.

Taking a few minutes to research the Ford documents, the technician would have seen the bulletin/customer letter stating that the software update was not instantaneous: dealership or customer OTA (over the air) install.

If the technician had followed the flow chart, they would have stopped and asked more questions, because when it comes down to it, we all know that most customers suppress information, believing that giving us the straight skinny is going to cost more in diagnostics.

In the perfect automotive world, a Q&A is a time saver for the customer (billable hours), and offers faster vehicle turn-around time in the bay (more volume).

How could you turn wrong went you have the right information base?

• Next month, ASE will be sitting down with a panel of professionals to sort-out the initial 80-question L4 exam. The test, to have 40 ADAS questions, is expected to be launched in fall.

• The ASE Convention will feature an ADAS course — with in-classroom, hands-on lab — for collegiate and high school instructors. The more they know, the more the budding technicians we will be able to bring to the shop.

• Move over, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR). Those spinning soup-cans to module format may be taking a back seat. According to the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Spectrum-Enhanced Detection and Ranging (SEDAR) is on the move. SEDAR looks outside the visible spectrum at on the road objects — with thermal detection — and is being entertained as the latest element in the vehicle ADAS arsenal.