Vehicle faults

Vectis records vehicle faults reported through the OBD-II port and keeps them as a history: when a fault first appeared, whether it is still present, how long the warning light has been on, and when it stopped being reported.

You'll find a vehicle's faults on its page, under Diagnostics → Faults.

What a fault record tells you#

When the fault first appeared. The record keeps the first report in which the vehicle named that fault code. If a fault clears and later comes back, Vectis reopens the original record and keeps its first sighting.

That the fault was confirmed. A code seen in a single drive is recorded as Pending and never alerts. It becomes Active only once the vehicle has reported it in two separate ignition cycles. This is the same distinction OBD-II itself draws between a pending and a confirmed code.

How far the vehicle was driven with the warning light on. The distance driven with the warning light lit is read directly from the vehicle.

When your fleet managers were told. When a fault is confirmed, Vectis notifies fleet managers, once per fault. The notification is stored with the fault record.

When the fault stopped being reported. A fault is cleared only after three clean drives in a row in which the vehicle answered and did not report it. This is the same rule the vehicle uses to turn off its own warning light. A single missing report never clears a fault, because a failed read looks just like a repair.

What a fault record does not tell you#

It does not assess roadworthiness. A fault's priority ranks how urgently someone should look at it. It is not a judgement that the vehicle is safe or unsafe to drive. That is a decision for a qualified person with the vehicle in front of them.

It does not diagnose. A fault code names a symptom the vehicle detected. The description shown for a recognised code is a plain-language expansion of the code, not a finding about your vehicle. Codes Vectis doesn't recognise are shown as unrecognised.

It does not see faults the vehicle doesn't report over OBD-II. Many manufacturer-specific warnings never appear on the standard OBD-II interface. A vehicle can show a dashboard warning that Vectis never receives. No faults in Vectis doesn't mean the vehicle has none.

It cannot name faults recorded before fault-code capture. Some older records are marked unidentified. Vectis knows a fault was present, and from when, because the device reported how many codes were set, but not which codes. These records say so, are never given a likely-looking code, and don't fail a prestart inspection.

It does not prove a repair was carried out. A fault clearing means the vehicle stopped reporting it. That is consistent with a repair, but also with an intermittent fault or with someone clearing the codes.

Using fault history for servicing#

The useful questions are what is outstanding, since when, and whether anyone has acted. The fault history answers all three:

• Open faults are listed worst first. The order combines the warning-light state, how long the fault has stood, how many drives it has lasted, and which part of the vehicle it affects.
• Chassis (C) and body (B) faults, such as braking, steering, suspension and restraints, rank above powertrain faults.
• A fault that has stood for months of driving looks different from one that appeared this week.

A mapped fault code can also fail a prestart inspection question automatically, so a vehicle with a known serious fault can't go out on a clean check. See Prestart inspections.

Using fault history after an incident#

After an incident, an insurer usually asks what you knew and when. The fault record can show:

• the date the fault was first reported by the vehicle (not entered by a person);
• how far the vehicle was driven with the warning light on;
• the date fleet managers were notified;
• whether the fault was still open at the time of the incident, or the date it cleared after clean drives.

None of these is a statement about whether the vehicle was roadworthy.

Fault alert settings#

Go to Settings → Organisation and find Vehicle Fault Alerts.