CONNECTING TO THE FUTURE How the latest advances in data access help streamline vehicle maintenance. By David Brierley V ehicles have been producing data for decades. The first on-board computers date back to the 1960s with Volkswagen's electronic fuel injection system, manufactured by Bosch. Early on-board diagnostics (OBD), however, provided limited data, and there was no standard between vehicle manufacturers for the type of connector used, if there was a connector at all. Some OBD systems used the malfunction indicator light (MIL), flashing it in certain patterns to communicate trouble codes. This made accessing vehicle data difficult, especially for the aftermarket. Continued Page 12