A small connector with great impact

A small socket in your car like a doctor’s stethoscope

Imagine you need to see a doctor because something is bothering you. For example, your heart hurts or you feel that there’s something wrong with your blood pressure. And the doctor cannot examine you because he cannot examine you using a stethoscope or a blood pressure meter. That would be a serious problem and the media would certainly sound an alarm, criticizing a system making the personal examination pf the patient with proper tools impossible.

 

Similarly, if your car breaks down, you need to diagnose the problem before repairing the vehicle. With today’s electronic complexity of vehicles, almost such repairs require a possibility to connect a test equipment to the car. Presently it is possible thanks to a small diagnostics connector commonly known as the ‘OBD connector’.

 

Nevertheless, some drastic changes may be introduced soon, which will make such a connection impossible.

 

A small “forgotten” connector

Unfortunately, the existence of the diagnostic connector which, although small, has a tremendous impact on the entire automotive aftermarket, is currently in jeopardy. That is because the European Commission has commenced works on a proposal the Vehicle Type Approval Regulation where this connector should have been included.

 

The problem is however not about what has been included in the new Regulation, but what has not been included in there.

 

The authors of the new Regulation forgot (certainly accidentally) the OBD connector, but also many other issues raised in the ‘Ricardo Study’ commissioned by the Commission itself. This Ricardo Study had strongly recommended in 2016 an update of the current legislation on Access to Repair and Maintenance Information, which is 10 years old.

 

Is that possible that Ms. Elżbieta Bieńkowska, the Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, was not aware of such important issues mentioned in the Ricardo report?

 

She is the EU representative responsible for small and medium sized enterprises, which are the companies that will suffer most as a consequence of non-inclusion of the forgotten OBD connector in the proposal.

 

Therefore, she should strive to make sure that the Ricardo report conclusions are implemented in the Regulation currently worked on, as a missing OBD detector will not help her with fulfilling her tasks.

 

 

Consequences of OBD connector absence

Today, when the ODB connector can be replaced with another system (for example entirely remote diagnostics performed with the use of servers managed from the vehicle manufacturer’s headquarters), there is a risk that some of the vehicle manufacturers would use that legislative loophole, thus gaining a monopoly on access to vehicle technical condition data.

 

Without a possibility to access the vehicle data with the use of the connector, multi-brand garages will not be able to read trouble codes from cars to be repaired, and thus will become into dependency from car manufactures.

 

Therefore, the existence of the OBD connector is necessary for the operation of the entire  Automotive Aftermarket – and thus the competitive offer in vehicle servicing and repair.

No requirement to install the OBD connector in new models of cars would provide the manufacturers with a possibility to gain monopoly on access to vehicle technical condition data. The independent aftermarket serves 284 million motorists in Europe and has created 3.5 million jobs in 500,000 companies, of which most are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Its good condition is certainly beneficial to motorists, as strong internal competition guarantees innovativeness, aggressive pricing and improved service quality.

In accordance with the domino theory, the consequences of removal of the small OBD connector would impact virtually all entities operating on the independent automotive market. Apart from the garages, which would lose access to vehicle condition data and would actually have to depend on car manufacturers, the missing OBD connector would impact also spare part manufacturers, distributors, producers of diagnostic equipment and dedicated software for the OBD connector, as well as millions of drivers who would suffer the consequences of disturbed market competition.

 

 

The European Parliament has come to aid of motorists and companies operating on the IAM

The European Parliament has been working for months on the Regulation under discussion. Their Internal Market Committee (IMCO) proposed and introduced amendments that significantly improved the provisions of the Regulation, for which the aware European motorists will surely be thankful. Gratitude needs to be shown to the Members of the European Parliament who tabled numerous amendments to the proposal to keep the communication lifeline to the vehicle intact.

 

The wording of the amendments worked out by the IMCO Committee guarantees proper operation of the car market, fair and undisturbed competition and retained market balance.

 

 

Unfortunately, that success is only a small step towards free competition. Actually, it’s only the beginning of a battle for the small OBD connector

After the proposal is accepted by the European Parliament, a compromise between the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU needs to be reached in a negotiation process known as „informal trilogues”. That means that the way to preservation of that small but very important OBD connector remains very long.

 

We are intrigued by the as it seems weak interest from the European Commission for the important aftermarket issues; the Commission looks exclusively on how to solve the Dieselgate quickly, for which it had been under criticism. The signal is to postpone the RMI issues to the far (uncertain) future.

 

However, such a postponement will be very disadvantageous to aftermarket operators, as it will deprive the whole multi-brand car repair sector of access to car data forever, and make it dependent on car manufacturers who will be the only entities having at their disposal the “access codes” for information required for repairing cars. This will be detrimental to SMEs, Entrepreneurship and the Single Market.

 

What is the OBD connector? Until the 1990s, there was no possibility to accurately diagnose a car defect in a garage. That changed in 1996 when the United States introduced an obligation to equip vehicles with a special diagnostics system called OBD-II. Five years later, in 2001, the European Union also started to require installation of that unit. Currently, communication with a vehicle is provided with the use of the OBD connector, without which a mechanic would not be able to connect a computer to the car.     How did the obligation to install the OBD connector change the amount of money remaining in your purse? The OBD connector enables communication with a vehicle, accurate diagnostics and quick and efficient repair, which is necessary for further safe use of the vehicle.   The introduction of the requirement to install the OBD connector brought additional benefits. Currently, both automobile repair shops authorized by car manufacturers and garages operating outside such chains are capable of carrying out accurate diagnostic procedures. That gives us two repair market segments competing with each other - the authorized chains and an independent market which has been developing, amongst others, thanks to the obligation to install the OBD connectors in cars. That distribution of strengths on the market forces healthy competition, which in turn means wider choice, better quality and lower service prices. Therefore, the economic interests of European motorists are protected, as for them the purchase and maintenance of a car still remains the largest expense in the home budget.