These devices aren’t legit, often being no more than a plastic shell without any connectivity. Like many electronic products, there’s a fair share of shady brown stuff out there on the market. What should I avoid?Ī word of warning for those cheaper, easy-to-produce hardware units: be wary. With a greater range of smartphone apps using your phone’s interface to control the device, the hardware units themselves are often smaller and much cheaper to produce. The good news is that prices have been coming down. If you’re more of a home mechanic and looking to tinker yourself, you might wish to invest in something with a bit more functionality. If you simply wish to check the error codes to protect yourself from any yarn-spinning mechanics, then a cheaper device should be sufficient. Prices range from £10 to over £4,000 for the professional tools. Working out which OBD device will suit you best means figuring out what your budget is. READ NEXT: Best dash cams How much should I spend on an OBD-II scanner? Just so you know, since your car can fail MOTs if it doesn’t meet emissions standards, you’ll see a lot being made of “i/M readiness” as a feature – this is a way of checking if your vehicle is ready for emissions testing. If you’re looking to clear a malfunction indicator light (MIL), ensure the device enables you to clear codes.įinally, some devices automatically read the car’s vehicle identification number (VIN), while some require you to type it in. If you’re looking for a wireless device, make sure the device is compatible with your phone’s operating system most are Android-friendly. However, not all OBD-II devices are created equally, so some don’t cover these components.īest snow foam 2023: The faster way to a cleaner car It might feel a bit like eating acronym soup, what with the ABS (brakes), SRS (airbags) and TPMS (tyre pressure). If you have a specific issue with your car that you’re hoping to diagnose, make sure that the device you pick supports that component. Since most home devices are configured to perform read-only functions, you’d need a fair bit of computer know-how and a lot of malicious intent to do any damage to your car. Can I damage my car with an OBD-II scanner?Ĭar manufacturers have always been a bit prickly about third-party companies accessing the port and the information from the car’s computer, preferring to champion their own dealership network. OBD-II is the second generation now-standardised access point, identical in every car. On-board diagnostics (OBD) and OBD-II is all about the evolution of the manufacturing standards. How to choose the best OBD-II device for you What’s the difference between OBD and OBD-II?
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