AAA Study Finds ADAS Repairs Add 37.6% to Crash Costs—and Glass Shops Bear a Growing Share

A February 2024 study from the American Automobile Association (AAA) put a specific dollar figure on what auto glass technicians had been experiencing empirically for years: ADAS adds significant cost to vehicle repairs. The study found that advanced driver assistance systems—automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, lane departure warning, and related technologies—account for 37.6 percent of total repair costs after a crash.

The AAA study isolated the costs associated with replacing and recalibrating the sensors that operate ADAS systems. Even in cases of minor damage to front radar or distance sensors, the study found additional repair expenses averaging up to $1,540. For front-end collision scenarios, replacing ADAS components added an average of $1,540, or 13.2 percent of the average total repair cost.

The study's component-level breakdown was particularly notable: AAA found that 70.8 percent of the $1,540 average ADAS cost—roughly $1,067—was attributable to the ADAS camera embedded in the side-mirror assembly. Side-mirror replacement thus represents the largest single ADAS cost element in crash repair, a finding with direct relevance to shops whose service mix includes mirror-glass and assembly work.

AAA Director of Automotive Engineering Greg Brannon said ADAS-equipped vehicles are now much more common on U.S. roads, in part because NHTSA had proposed a rule requiring automatic emergency braking earlier in the year. Brannon emphasized that consumers must understand both the repair costs and the importance of fixing ADAS correctly, because improperly functioning systems could contribute to a crash.

For auto glass shop owners, the AAA data provided a powerful consumer-education tool. Shops explaining calibration charges to customers who question why a windshield replacement costs significantly more than a decade ago can point to authoritative third-party research confirming that ADAS integration has fundamentally changed the cost structure of glass work.

The study also strengthened the case for shops to invest in calibration equipment. As ADAS repair costs represent a growing share of vehicle repair spend, shops capable of completing the full scope of work—glass replacement plus recalibration—capture more of the total job value and provide a more complete service to customers.