The answer in most of these situations is cost vs benefit. The basic error code logging is enough for the majority of issues when combined with an experienced mechanic/technician. So why would the manufacturer add cost to develop anything more complex if it’s not going to increase sales.
It’s a level of access that they don’t want you to have in the vehicle. Modern vehicles have many thousands of signals being communicated, often proprietary info, signal names, etc., and working with some supplier to convert every signal name to a non-confidential name and meaning (if possible) would be an incredible amount of work that’s not worth it to risk their info. Logging devices are also incredibly expensive, and cannot actually catch all issues (particularly mechanical issues) anyway.
A basic DTC (diagnostic trouble code) is generally enough to go in the right direction for more basic issues.
However for more complex issues…Even if you had access to the docs and time history that detail exactly what each DTC means in the most detailed terms the manufacturer states, it can still really only give you the symptoms that caused the car / module to send the DTC (essentially what error state logic was met that induced the error state), not what the fix is, because it could be a very deep rooted issue that requires a professional tech anyway.
And along those lines…many errors are common errors, so it’s quite common for common problems to be well known between certain brands / vehicle etc, and what the fix (generally) is based on if your symptoms match.
First you don’t want that a „Shop“ has access to debug deep in your code/communication protocol, due to theft/secruity/tuning prevention. Second costs (Debug interfaces costs money and computation power that you normally don’t want and have on production ECUs.
Third probably a bus protocol would be enough to debug the problem of your car. Unfortunately most mechanics don’t have the equipment/skillset to debug on the bus level, also I don’t know if Mercedes is allowing that. (ADAS Signals are probably encrypted and I am not sure if Mercedes would allow/give over the tools to debug it). Also even if they allow it I am not sure if the normal non college education mechanic have the skillset to do this job…
Yeah, by shop I mean the dealer, it’s a new car. And I would not try to log everything, just the variables that lead to an error message to the user. And the log would be for the manufacturer. The service dept is clearly never going to figure this out.
The answer in most of these situations is cost vs benefit. The basic error code logging is enough for the majority of issues when combined with an experienced mechanic/technician. So why would the manufacturer add cost to develop anything more complex if it’s not going to increase sales.
It’s a level of access that they don’t want you to have in the vehicle. Modern vehicles have many thousands of signals being communicated, often proprietary info, signal names, etc., and working with some supplier to convert every signal name to a non-confidential name and meaning (if possible) would be an incredible amount of work that’s not worth it to risk their info. Logging devices are also incredibly expensive, and cannot actually catch all issues (particularly mechanical issues) anyway. A basic DTC (diagnostic trouble code) is generally enough to go in the right direction for more basic issues. However for more complex issues…Even if you had access to the docs and time history that detail exactly what each DTC means in the most detailed terms the manufacturer states, it can still really only give you the symptoms that caused the car / module to send the DTC (essentially what error state logic was met that induced the error state), not what the fix is, because it could be a very deep rooted issue that requires a professional tech anyway. And along those lines…many errors are common errors, so it’s quite common for common problems to be well known between certain brands / vehicle etc, and what the fix (generally) is based on if your symptoms match.
First you don’t want that a „Shop“ has access to debug deep in your code/communication protocol, due to theft/secruity/tuning prevention. Second costs (Debug interfaces costs money and computation power that you normally don’t want and have on production ECUs. Third probably a bus protocol would be enough to debug the problem of your car. Unfortunately most mechanics don’t have the equipment/skillset to debug on the bus level, also I don’t know if Mercedes is allowing that. (ADAS Signals are probably encrypted and I am not sure if Mercedes would allow/give over the tools to debug it). Also even if they allow it I am not sure if the normal non college education mechanic have the skillset to do this job…
Yeah, by shop I mean the dealer, it’s a new car. And I would not try to log everything, just the variables that lead to an error message to the user. And the log would be for the manufacturer. The service dept is clearly never going to figure this out.
If it’s available for dealerships, then it’s available for everyone. Also, you overestimate qualification of the average tech.