this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2024
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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 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by [email protected] to c/showerthoughts
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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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[–] shalafi 18 points 1 week ago (1 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.

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

Torque is ancient and not supported on current versions of Android.

I've been using Piston for a long time and I've been happy with it

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

Yeah that's what it said for me when I clicked that playstore link. Apparently my 4 year old phone is too new to use the app.