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Nobody can diagnose and repair vehicles today without a scan tool and up-to-date service information. Many professional grade scan tools use plug-in cartridges which contain the programming that allows the tool to read and display PIDs (Performance Information Data), DTCs (Diagnostic Trouble Codes) and other information. The cartridge may also allow the tool to perform various diagnostic tests that require two-way bidirectional communication with the vehicle.
Cartridges also allow you to keep your scan tool up-to-date with the latest vehicle applications. But there's a catch: as soon as you're up-to-date, you're out-of-date. Another model year arrives and you have to buy yet another update cartridge. So you spend $500 this year for a new update cartridge, then $550 next year to buy next year's update cartridge, then $600 the following year for that update cartridge, and so on year after year.
There's more -- to buy, that is. If you work on Asian vehicles (who doesn't these days?), you need the latest Asian update cartridge. If you work on European vehicles, you need the European update cartridge. If you work on big trucks, you need the specific truck update cartridge. Want the latest technical service bulletins and troubleshooting help? That's another cartridge.
Keeping your scan tool up-to-date is an ongoing cost of doing business. It's expensive and the cost must either be absorbed by you or passed along to your customers. Either way, somebody pays.
Update cartridges are obviously a good source of income for scan tool manufacturers. But cartridges are a necessity to keep their products up-to-date, and they take a lot of time and effort to develop and program. In fact, update cartridges probably hurt the sale of new scan tools because they extend the useful life of older scan tools that technicians already own.
IS THERE A BETTER WAY?
Is there an alternative to buying a new scan tool cartridge every year or having to buy separate cartridges for domestic, Asian, European and heavy-duty vehicles?
I think the answer is obvious. Put all the required service and diagnostic information into the vehicles themselves so anybody can access it directly without having to buy an update cartridge.
Let the auto makers pay for it. After all, it's their cars and trucks we're trying to fix, right? It's their information we need to diagnose and repair their products. So why shouldn't they include it with every vehicle they sell?
The information could be put on a chip that would be included in the Powertrain Control Module (PCM). It would be a next-generation OBD system that would not only detect and diagnose emissions and engine performance problems, but also provide meaningful instructions and guidance on how to fix the problems.
Instead of just getting a code, you could read a complete description of the fault, what triggered the code and why, what needs to be tested to confirm the diagnosis, and what needs to be replaced to fix the fault -- plus any other special precautions or repair procedures that might be needed during the repair process. Best of all, the information would be accessible through a next-generation scan tool that would not require annual update cartridges.
As dirt cheap as chips are today, this kind of information could be easily bundled into new vehicles at minimal cost -- certainly less than most of the other high tech options that motorists clamor for on new vehicles today.
Al Gore (remember him?) pushed for the introduction of the "V-chip" for television sets. The V-chip (which stands for Viewer control) allows parents to censor the type of shows their kids watch. It's a programmable chip inside many new television sets that blocks access to programs with objectionable content. Nobody knows how to use it, but it's there should the need to use it arise.
A more advanced version of the V-chip could be added to PCMs that would allow technicians to view information they can't view now because it isn't there. It might be called a "DIP-chip" for Diagnostic Information Please!. Catchy name, don't you think?
The most challenging aspect of adding a DIP-chip would not be the cost of the chip itself or programming it. The hard part would be (1) getting the OEMs to recognize the need for such a chip, (2) getting the OEMs to agree on a standardized format and what kind of service information to include, and (3) getting them to pay for it.
A DIP-chip is technically feasible and could be done today. So why haven't they done it? Because nobody has told them to do it.
OBD II was one of the best things that ever came along to help technicians diagnose and repair vehicles. Air bags and ABS have greatly improved driving safety. But it took years of haggling and government mandates to make these things happen. Why not take OBD II to the next level and include meaningful diagnostic and service information as part of the package, too? And do it without government intervention.
Isn't it time we "can the cartridge" and come up with a better, more cost-effective way of providing and accessing service information? Include it within the vehicles themselves so it will never be out of date -- and you'll never have to buy another scan tool update cartridge again.
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