Patent ID: 7502718

Claim:
A vehicle fault diagnostic system, which includes a vehicle and an information center that are capable of communicating with each other, the vehicle fault diagnostic system comprising: vehicle data detection means that is installed in the vehicle to detect vehicle data; fault detection means that is installed in the vehicle or in the information center to detect a vehicle fault in accordance with said vehicle data; identification process instruction means that is installed in the information center to find arising of the vehicle fault and to instruct the vehicle to perform a fault identification process for identifying the cause of the vehicle fault; identification process execution means that is installed in the vehicle to perform the fault identification process that is instructed; identification process result return means that is installed in the vehicle to return the result of said fault identification process to the information center;. fault location identification means that is installed in the information center to identify the fault location in accordance with the result of said fault identification process, which is returned from the vehicle; and identified fault countermeasure means that is installed in the information center to take countermeasures against the identified fault, wherein said identified fault countermeasure means includes recovery process instruction means for instructing the vehicle to perform a recovery process for eliminating the influence of the identified fault, the vehicle fault diagnostic system further comprising: recovery process execution means that is installed in the vehicle to make the vehicle itself perform the recovery process that is instructed; and process determination means that is installed in the vehicle or in the information center to determine in accordance with the result of said recovery process whether another recovery process should be continued or not.