The Advent of on-board Diagnostic Scanners

Initially, on-board computer systems were built into vehicles by their respective automobile manufacturers. In the early 1980s, the first generation of On-board diagnostics (OBD-I) was designed. The rationale for developing the aforesaid was to intimate the drivers and /or the vehicle owners in case of any the emissions control system malfunctioned. It was primarily designed by professional automobile experts and not only were they designed uniquely from each other but also were expensive to acquire. Being unique from each other the OBD-1 provided unstandardized tests and information. There were also variations among the models of the single automaker.

The complex mechanism of retrieving information from OBD 1, which required a wide variety of cables to be connected to wide range of data connectors of the vehicles made the use of scan tools and code readers less user-friendly. The lay users were simply not aware of the functionality that this mechanism had.

In 1996, due to stringent federal emissions regulations, on-board diagnostic systems were standardized across different automobile manufacturers. In view of the above, the automobile diagnostic sector witnessed the birth of generation two of on-board diagnostics (OBD-II). This transition allowed post-market scanners such as Mercedes Scanners read retrieve information from the on-board computer of any vehicles from 1996 or later. Prices were brought down as the scan tools market was expanding.

The current OBD-II scanners Viz. Mercedes Scanners and code readers for being incapable of retrieving information from OBD-I vehicles. Nevertheless, there are a few automotive scanning tools which are equipped with adapters and cables in order to be interfaced with OBD-I vehicles. But they are relatively expansive than their counterparts, which can only process information from OBD-II equipped vehicles.

For enthusiasts, independent repairs, small or specialized garages as well as for the technicians the Mercedes Scanners are one of most cost-effective scanning tools. It delivers OE level diagnosis on all the electronic systems.With Mercedes Scanner actual configurations of each system can be retrieved, real-time sensor data could be streamed, SCN online&offline coding and programming could be performed by activating sensors.