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You may soon never have to worry again about some jerk getting away with scratching or denting your car in the grocery store parking lot.



According to Ward’s Auto, German-based company Hella is working on a new technology that will give future vehicles the ability to detect when they’ve been scratched, bumped, or damaged, even if you’re not around.

The system uses an electronic sensor that the company calls an Intelligent Damage Detection System, which will allow a car to recognize when its body panels have been deformed.

Hella marketing head Kristian Döscher told Ward’s that the technology would let your car detect where it was struck and how hard. So, it could tell the difference between a ding from a hailstone and being crushed by a giant tree branch.

The point of the technology is to let car owners know if and when their car was damaged. So if you park in a packed parking lot, you’ll know it was the person next to you who dented your door.

If the Intelligent Damage Detection System gets tied to a vehicle’s in-car communication systems, it would be able to send you a message as soon as any damage occurs.



Hella even predicts that the technology could work with a vehicle’s front and rear cameras to capture an image of whatever hit your car, whether it’s an errant golf ball or your ex’s pickaxe.

Hella says the tech should reach production cars in 2018. Here’s to the future!

via: Ward’s Auto

Email Daniel at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley or on Google+ here.

