Automotive diagnostics
OBD‑II: The 1990s Diagnostic Revolution That Fueled Today’s Automotive Data Economy
By 1996, over 70% of new gasoline vehicles adopted OBD-II, instantly standardizing on-board diagnostics and slashing repair times. When the first OBD-II module left the assembly line in 1992, it gave every car a digital health journal. The protocol was born from federal emissions rules that demanded real-time monitoring of