What Are Computer Diagnostics

Did you know there were dozens of microchips in your car, sending signals to the main computer in it? Did you realize a computer was involved when you pulled on the handle of your sliding door and it shut automatically? Or how about when you went to back up, but a sensor went off because there was something small in the driveway that you did not see? Now there are even sensors that tells you when you driving into the other lane. Computers are present in a lot more components of your vehicle than you may have realized at first.
Did that sliding door get stuck halfway open this morning? Did the backup alarm keep going off, even though you were moving forward? Sounds like you need computer diagnostics to figure out exactly what is wrong. There are ASE technicians who are trained specifically to handle the electronic and computerized parts of the car. Diagnosing and finding a computer glitch can be trickier than you realized at first. It does take special training to be certified in these types of repairs, so check with the company where you are planning on taking your vehicle to make sure they have trained professionals.
Just like when your laptop at home does not function properly because of a circuit connection gone bad, your car can have the same thing happen. It takes a specialist to trace through your circuits and to spot exactly what and where the problem lays. Once they find it, then it can be repaired – usually pretty quickly. The hard part is finding exactly where the problem lays. That is also where the expense comes in – the time it takes the technician to locate the problem before it can be fixed.
How do they find a computer diagnostic problem? The vehicle is hooked up to a few different machines. The machines hook to the electronic system in the vehicle and look for codes or error messages to come up. The code can contain the location and the problem detected in your car. The technician can then get in to that location, check the wires and see where the problem is. It might be a quick and easy fix or it could be a larger problem, which requires a new computer chip or program installed in to your vehicle. Unfortunately, you won’t know anything until you have it checked out and evaluated, unless you happen to know computers and vehicles yourself!