Patent ID: 8509985

Claim:
A method for identifying a root cause of a fault in a serviced vehicle based on anomalies identified in parameter identification data and performing corrective actions, the method comprising the steps of: executing a diagnostic software routine for retrieving diagnostic trouble codes used to identify faults in an operation of the serviced vehicle; retrieving parameter identification data associated with the diagnostic trouble codes identified with a detected fault; collecting on a computer parameter identification data from a plurality of vehicles experiencing the diagnostic trouble codes; generating a first set of diagnostic rules, the first set of diagnostic rules identifying vehicle operating parameters for executing a diagnostic trouble code algorithm or for triggering a diagnostic trouble code; generating a second set of diagnostic rules, the second set of diagnostic rules identifying vehicle operating parameters used for selecting field failure data obtained when the diagnostic trouble code is triggered; extracting statistically significant rules from the second set of diagnostic rules; applying each of the first set of rules and the statistically significant rules cooperatively to the parameter identification data for identifying a subset of the parameter identification data that represents anomalies; a subject matter expert analyzing the anomalies for identifying a root cause of the fault; and performing corrective actions based on the identified root cause analysis.