this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2024
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Modern cars have MASSIVE digital displays, loads of computers systems monitoring every subsystem and internal diagnostics running to the OBDII ports.

Why the hell can't we get diagnostic feeds on our console or infotainment center?

I'm not aware of any car manufacturers selling their own diagnostic ASICs, so it's not an extra margin to squeeze afaik...

What gives? Any insight into this beyond the usual muh corporate profits conjecture?

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 day ago (5 children)

I’m not aware of any car manufacturers selling their own diagnostic ASICs, so it’s not an extra margin to squeeze afaik…

What? The errors are intentionally vague so the drivers are forced to go to a dealer, giving them a chance to lie and pretend that's something very serious and very expensive, while all they're going to do is a reseat of a cable and a error reset

Btw Car scanner supports showing obd data on Android auto. It's a game changer for hypermilers

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Money

I don't know if that's the reason but it probably is

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 day ago

They probably don't want YOU to be the one diagnosing.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago

P r o f I t

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago

I use a Veepeak OBDII reader, and run Car Scanner on my phone or a tablet to access that data. And yeah, it would be nifty if I didn't have to add one or more additional screens to do that. It's cumbersome.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (4 children)

Yo it'd be sick af to root your cars dash and load some OS onto it and have your own console!

ODB2 into a raspberry pi or a breadboard somehow, get some sick diagnostics application whipped up.

Here's to projects I'll never tackle.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

I admire your creativity!

Cheers

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

Hondas infotainment is just android. And at least on my friends 2017 Civic you could get to the regular ass android interface. Most of them are some flavor of Linux.

Also you can install whatever head unit you want on most cars. You can even buy a head unit from china that will match your cars trim for like $300 from china.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I had an old Android tablet running Torque in my dash where the radio used to be. Adapter and phone app, $20.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

I have a couple of those OBDongles that pair over BT, honestly the interface leaves a lot to be desired.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 days ago

They want you going to the dealer, so they can upsell more maintenance and repair costs.

[–] [email protected] 129 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

The sad answer is that those displays exist to cut costs, not to make your ownership experience better.

Also the dealers want you to come to them for that CEL, and the companies don’t want to piss off the dealers.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Why don’t the companies want to piss off the dealers? Is some Toyota dealership really gonna stop selling Toyotas because a Toyota comes out with a self-diagnosis feature?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The dealers have a shocking amount of power in the US

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Just to throw this out there, but car dealership owners are close to the scummiest people on the planet.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

My spouse used to work in the industry. I can confirm your take with first hand experience 😮‍💨

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

They don't call them Stealerships for nothing.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They make the ownership experience worse. I fucking hate mine.

I wish I could replace half of the real estate with buttons and.knobs but nooooo, I can't afford a car with such fancy craftsmanship so it's a cheap shitty screen with a cheap shitty OS instead. And everyone things it's fancy...LOL

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I like my Infiniti because it has both a screen and knobs / buttons

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Some cars do! Mine shows diagnostic info for the can bus and GPS by holding down a "secret" button combination. I'm sure other manufacturers do that too.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I can't even get my manufacturer to give me a fuse box diagram.. what make do you drive if you don't mind me being nosy?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

2004 Honda Accord Coupe. Yup, screens even back then. (On the fancy models)

It's... a trooper. First thing I did after I bought the car was purchase the service manuals for $400. It's so easy to maintain.

I looked that up for my partners newer car. Annual subscription to a service manuals is $1500+.

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (4 children)

There is a standard connector which existed before big screens landed in cars, the OBD2 connector. Dongles are cheap and you can read the output from your phone or computer. Some dongles support bluetooth. The connector is mandated in some markets and I guess that makes it less interesting to add a redundant interface inside of the car. It's fun to try if you're interested. Manufacturers can extend the error codes IIRC.

Tesla has a service mode on the display through which you can scan the car for faults, run a battery test, ... It is password protected but the password is publicly available.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Bingo! You can get a BT adapter for $7 on eBay. Torque is the absolute killer app. I'm stunned something so complete and customizable is free, a few bucks for the full version. I suck at mechanics, but that has saved my butt a time or two.

If you own a car that was made in the last several decades, it has the OBDII connector under the steering wheel and openly accessible. You just plug the adapter in and connect to your phone. The adapter and app are every bit as important to me as a jack, lug wrench and tire pump. No one should be without for a measly $20.

My wife's car occasionally throws an error that kills the cruise control. She can clear the error code while I'm driving! If you have ever had a mysterious check engine light, you can see exactly what it means.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This is totally it. Car is already required to support OBDII, adding the ability to display diagnostic info to the screen costs more.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

Yeah, particularly it costs more, which you would need customers to want to pay for. If those same customers can just get an OBD-2 connector for a fraction of the upcharge, that's not gonna work out...

[–] [email protected] 32 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Usually I wouldn't be that guy, but it's OBD2, not ODB2.

OBD - On Board Diagnostics

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Updated my comment to reflect this. Thanks for clearing out the confusion.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Once it may have been called ALDL instead. My '95 Commodore has one. Assembly Line Diagnostic Link. Same physical connector.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

ALDL was proprietary to GM kind of like apple and their connector tomfoolery. In 1990-something CARB probably didn't want to buy all the different diagnostic tools so they said if you want to drive in California your car needs OBD-II. Now, I can check and clear codes on any modern car with a $35 tool.

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