When colors interfere with the radar

When colors interfere with the radar

A current challenge for manufacturers of paints, varnishes and coatings is developing mixing recipes that are invisible to radar signals. The background: More than 60 percent of vehicle paints today contain metallic mixed colors that can weaken or even completely reflect radar signals. Solid colors, mica and metallic paints can therefore mean that a vehicle equipped with ADAS sensors can no longer detect potential dangers in its surroundings.

AkzoNobel therefore developed and tested new color mixing formulations in close collaboration with original equipment manufacturers in order to adhere to the manufacturers' strict specifications and application guidelines. Paint shops that carry out repairs on vehicles with assistance systems (ADAS) now have over 200 radar-transparent color mixing recipes from the AkzoNobel brands Sikkens and Lesonal with original equipment manufacturer approval available. The color mixing formulations are made available to the global network of vehicle repair shops through AkzoNobel's state-of-the-art color retrieval cloud application MIXITTM. New mixing recipes are developed and tested every day and their details and specifications are updated in real time via the MIXIT platform. To coincide with the launch, AkzoNobel has launched a comprehensive online training package with e-learning modules in multiple languages, providing general information on radar and sensor technology and guiding paint shops through the future repair process.