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The challenges with vehicle diagnostics today

April 21, 2014
How vehicles are assembled nowadays has changed troubleshooting.

As with everything, diagnosing vehicle issues has changed considerably as time has relentlessly moved on.

In speaking with Mike Delaney, president and CEO of dedicated service and parts network WheelTime (www.wheeltime.com) at a recent industry event, he observed that one of the elements that has compounded diagnostics is that “a truck used to be an assembly of parts. Now a truck is an assembly of parts and information.

“Components have ECM’s, but components increasingly talk to each other as well.”

Another factor impacting diagnostics, he told me, is the explosion of OE and component company tools that “is making it costly – and in some cases impossible – to work on trucks.”

Further, he opined that vehicle information “must flow freely” in the market because “restricted access, and costs, prevent wide-spread use of needed tools.

“Customers and service providers need to be able to fix the assets wherever it’s most convenient – and will create the least downtime.”

Do you agree? Disagree? Email me at [email protected].

About the Author

David A. Kolman | Contributor - Fleet Maintenance

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