Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

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Why don't cars have diagnostic software loaded onto their infotainment centers? (lemm.ee)

submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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] 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They don't want to maintain the software for it.

That's fine, I just want the error codes displayed on the existing screens. No software necessary for that. Maybe a simple script at worst..

Also, they simply don't want you to know.

They want it to be known, otherwise there wouldn't be fail codes output to the OBDII port....

It's meant for diagnostics only.

Yes. Why don't they display diagnostics error codes on the existing displays? I'm fine with special display modes and "secret" menu options.

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

They want it to be known, otherwise there wouldn't be fail codes output to the OBDII port....

That's only there because it's required by law since 1996, and only a small subset of those codes are actually standardized/required. Many of them are specific to vehicle manufacturer and are only known to the public due to leaked documentation.

Auto corporations don't want you to easily have diagnostic info beyond the most basic things (tire pressure for example), they want you to bring it back to them. They don't profit off you fixing it yourself.