Patent ID: 7038578

Claim:
An operational status reporting system for a vehicle having at least one local electronic control unit for controlling operation of a vehicle system associated therewith, said reporting system comprising: a check-control module which is connected via a data line with, and receives report information from, the at least one local control unit which is associated with said vehicle system; and an indicating device which is connected with the check-control module for displaying at least one message as a function of the report information; wherein, the at least one local control unit is situated separate from the check-control module, and contains a further unit for performing processing for diagnostic testing of said vehicle system independently of the check-control module, and, in the presence of predetermined conditions, emitting a corresponding diagnostic report to the check-control module; hardware and software for performing diagnostic testing are situated solely in said local control unit; a table is provided in which message information is stored, including at least one message for each diagnostic report; and the check-control module is connected with the table, and reads the at least one message assigned to the diagnostic report out of the table and displays it via the indicating device.