CarMD Tells Your Car to Turn Over, Cough
- January 10th, 2007
- Read 1229 times
- 3 Comments
Most cars made for the American road since the late ’80s have included a small microprocessor that keeps track of various goings-on under the hood. It not only keeps things digitally regulated, but also makes a record of any problems so your motor can have a quick “check-up” from any mechanic with the diagnostic gear to decode the information, which is not always cheap.
CarMD is a handheld, affordable diagnostic unit for the everyday hobbyist. Using the same 20-year old technology as the big units at your mechanic’s garage, you can download the information from your car’s “brain” and sync it with your PC via USB, where it’s checked against CarMD’s database to decode the data and report back exactly what’s going on. What’s more, if work is needed, it can help you track down cheap parts, and even labor.
If you’re a fan of home remedies instead of visits to the doctor, you might want to treat your car the same way. And at $90 or so, think of this as a great gift for gearheads.
CarMD [Product Site]
NW Guy (Who am I?)
1 year ago
Back to vendor issues…the $90 gives you access for 3 vehicles and up to 6 reports per month. No telling if there will be an ongoing subscription fee.
I did like the link on info on how to buy a used car; this would be a great tool for something like that; however that could really break the 3 vehicle/6 report pricing model. BTW; on the used car is there an easy way to tap into manufacturer vehicle history using the VIN to check on maintenance activity??
I’m not sure if I’ll get this but it is great to see some “everyday” technology.
Ryan Stickney (Who am I?)
1 year ago
This would have been very helpful for me 2 years ago, when I had sensor go bad.
NW Guy: there is a website somewhere that will show you some info via a vin number but I think it only has info regarding if it was totaled and rebuilt. I don’t think shops have to report oil-changes and tire rotations to the DMV.
Fdail (Who am I?)
1 year ago
Not bad, it really can occur