Mahle Aftermarket Service Solutions and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) have signed an agreement giving Mahle’s diagnostic tools access to secure vehicle data.
According to the deal, Mahle will have “trouble-free access” to FCA’s servers and the ability to retrieve all necessary information for diagnostics and service.
FCA is the first vehicle manufacturer to protect its OBD interfaces with a security gateway. Mahle says this will no longer present a problem for users of Mahle’s diagnostic tools, such as TechPRO (Mahle) or Connex (Brain Bee).
The company says shops will be able to purchase access in the form of an annual subscription and subsequently access the FCA portal.
“All relevant diagnostic additions will then be available and can be fully used,” says Joachim Schneeweiss, EMEA sales manager at Mahle Aftermarket Service Solutions. “Users will be able to work with their diagnostic tool from Mahle as usual, switching quickly to the FCA server in order to download the certificate that is required for certain service functions.”
The security gateway was introduced because there were indications that third parties could gain access to security-relevant functions of vehicles through diagnostic and connectivity protocols. FCA responded immediately by introducing extensive security measures. Since then, the OBD interface can be read, but users cannot write or delete entries. Changes to vehicle systems were previously only possible using original FCA testers.