Vehicle Interface Modules provide an interface between a vehicle's onboard diagnostics link (e.g. OBD II) and an offboard computing device such as a PC or a Scan Tester. They provide the necessary communications interface between the offboard device and the vehicle to enable monitoring of data available from various subsystems that communicate via the diagnostic link.
The communications protocols supported by vehicle data link connectors (DLC) are not compatible with various standard computing interfaces such as those typically provided by PCs today. The protocols used are designed for communications between multiple onboard vehicle electronic control units (ECUs) that support a variety of different vehicle applications (e.g., for powertrain, chassis, safety or comfort applications).
The primary function of vehicle interface modules is to enable communications between offboard devices and ECUs via the multiple communications protocols used on vehicles today. These communications protocols are typically based on both industry standards and OEM proprietary definitions which the VIMs are designed to accommodate.
In addition to these basic communications requirements, the vehicle interface modules support dedicated functions such as ECU reprogramming, and unique retrieval of data from the vehicle's "black box" event recording devices.
The ES6520 Vehicle Interface Module is a general purpose interface to vehicle ECU networks. Along with the SAE J2534 industry compliant Application Programming Interface (API), it is able to support a wide variety of applications, such as ECU reprogramming, diagnostics, data acquisition, and OBD conformance testing (SAE J1699-3). The most common use for the ES6520 is ECU reprogramming within the service bay.
The ES6520, along with OEM reprogramming application software, effectively provides dealer-level reprogramming capabilities for "All Makes/All Models" at a fraction of the cost of a proprietary OEM dealer diagnostic tool. Traditionally this capability has only been available to OEM dealer service technicians. With an ES6520, your OEM diagnostic tool is free for other more complex diagnostic applications.