What you may not know about your modern car is that it could be a rolling computer. It has all kinds of sensors, cameras and so on..does all sorts of neat things for you.

One of the more common cameras is mounted up here behind the windshield. And it looks at the lines on the road, helps you to stay in the lane properly. Well, if your windshield gets broken and has to be replaced, you may have to recalibrate that camera. Well, the thing that you need to know is: Does your camera need to be recalibrated with a windshield replacement? Some cars do, some cars don’t. If yours does, then you need to know what the process is..it may be something simple, or it may be something very complex. Reason I’m telling you this is because some glass will automatically tell you that your camera needs recalibration, and it’s going to be 2, 3, 4 hundred dollars. If yours doesn’t, and you buy into that, then you’re wasting money.

Alright, another thing: Bumpers…they get scratched, they get dinged, they need to be replaced. Well, a lot of bumpers will have sensors in them used for parking maneuvers and lane distance keeping and things like that. Some of the replacement bumpers, especially the ones that are universal, don’t have the holes for those sensors, and the technician has to position them. Well, if they’re not positioned right, the system doesn’t work right. So, select your body shop carefully and make sure that they’re going to do those sensors the way they’re supposed to be. 

Something just about every car has these days is a backup camera. Backup cameras get dirty, and many of you just love paper towels to clean them…dry. Well, don’t do that. You should wet the lens with some kind of glass cleaner or polish or something like that, and then use a microfiber cloth to clean them. Otherwise, you can scratch the lens and that can be very distracting, and sometimes gets so bad that you need to replace the camera. Wasted money!

And if you have a question or a comment, drop me a line, right here at MotorWeek.