Patent ID: 7590476
Filing Date: 2009-09-15
Classification: G05B

Abstract:
1. A vehicle diagnosis system for determining one or more actual vehicle faults, said system comprising: a data storage medium having a sortable list of probable component faults for vehicle systems of multiple vehicles organized by vehicle year, make and model; a diagnostic program linked to the data storage medium that generates probable component faults from the sortable list based on a particular vehicle year, make and model; an interface having data fields adapted to receive information from a user that relates to fault information retrieved from a vehicle, vehicle fault information provided by a vehicle owner, as well as year, make and model information; data output including probable component faults, the best repair option based on the availability of tools for repair, the likelihood that an option is the cause of the vehicle fault, the ease of repair, and the estimated repair time; an assistance program that allows information entered by a user to be observed by a third party for the purpose of assisting the user to diagnose an actual vehicle fault; and a tracking program that updates the probability associated with each probable component fault based on information provided by the user.