A recent study conducted by Voyomotive using VOYO with Scan Pro on fleet vehicles has yielded surprising results on the high incidence of diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) raising questions around safety, operational performance and compliance with pollution standards. The fleet sample included hundreds of vehicles and was comprised of popular Class I/II passenger models. Summary findings of the study include:
- 47% of the vehicles with codes had an average of 3.5 codes and a range of 1-15 codes.
- 19% of the codes were generic and located on the Engine Control Unit (ECU).
- 81% of the codes were advanced or located on a non ECU controller.
- 28% of the vehicles were in need of repair taking into account the type of code, status (active, pending, historical) and symptom number.
- 60% of the vehicles in need of repair had codes related to electro/mechanical problems, many impacting vehicle safety systems.
- 40% of the vehicles in need of repair had efficiency related codes and would fail emissions testing in the 14 states that are following the CARB emission standards.
Fleet vehicles 75% more likely to require repair
The fleet results exceeded the prevalence of codes previously reported by Voyomotive on non-fleet passenger vehicles which determined that 16% were in need of repair. Importantly, the fleet cohort had a median model year of 2015 compared to a 2010 median for non-fleet vehicles. Normally, it can be expected that newer vehicles have fewer problems than their older counterparts; however, the fleet vehicles drove an average of 42k miles per year versus 15k miles for non-fleet vehicles. The study shows that the number of miles driven per year is highly correlated with diagnostic code incidence and that the almost 3-fold increase in miles driven per year leads to a 75% increase in a service repair requirement.
Scan Pro five times more powerful than standard OBD-II devices
Standard OBD-II devices only detect generic codes located on the ECU and do not report important diagnostic parameters such as symptom data. Scan Pro works in conjunction with the plug-in VOYO OBD-II controller to read manufacturer DTCs from all vehicle computers and reports both symptom data and code status. The Voyomotive study found that standard devices would only be able to report 19% of the codes found by Scan Pro due to the high incidence of advanced, manufacturer codes and their location on controllers other than the ECU.
Early detection of malfunctions reduces maintenance costs and increases safety
Significant cost and safety benefits are gained by diagnosing and addressing vehicle malfunctions at the earliest possible time. Until now, the inability of existing OBD-II devices to read advanced DTCs has forced fleets to rely on infrequent connections to scan tools at a garage. Now, VOYO with Scan Pro allows fleet owners to continuously perform a professional scan of all their vehicles so any issues can be addressed at the earliest possible time. Scan Pro currently works on over 150 million vehicles, including most major car brands manufactured since 2008 such as Toyota, GM, Ford, Honda, Fiat Chrysler, Nissan, Mazda, Hyundai, and Kia.
“Vehicle diagnostics lag behind modern information technologies that allow data to be collected, analyzed remotely and distributed through a seamless interface” said Peter Yorke, CEO of Voyomotive. “The VOYO controller and its Scan Pro feature enable a remote diagnostic capability equivalent to a professional scan tool constantly monitoring the vehicle. VOYO with Scan Pro will help fleets decrease maintenance and fuel costs and increase performance and safety.”
Voyomotive recently announced the addition of the ‘Engine On’ warning to its Lookout Alerts, a unique safety feature in the VOYO App. Lookout Alerts are issued when a vehicle has been left in a hazardous condition, driven unsafely or experienced a malfunction.