Heard of OBD but not sure what it means? Here's what the automotive acronym stands for and why it matters for your car!

️ Editor's note: This product category requires new testing about once a year. We'll update this article with the most recent information when it's available. Modern cars are technological marvels, ...

The second iteration of on-board diagnostics, OBD II, has been required tech on all new cars sold in the U.S. since 1996. That means that anyone who uses or works on cars less than three decades old ...

Whether you're an everyday driver or a pro technician, when your check engine light suddenly comes on the first step is to connect an OBD-II scanner. At Autoweek, we recommend everyone carry an OBD-II ...

We named this one of the best Bluetooth options in our recent comparison test because it takes the headache out of diagnostics in a compact device. It pairs deep scanning capabilities with an app that ...

What’s an OBD-II (sometimes alternatively referred to as OBD-2, and other times in either form absent the interstitial hyphen) scanner? Answering that question first requires an understanding of what ...

Antuan started out in the automotive industry the old-fashioned way, by turning wrenches in a driveway and picking up speeding tickets. He now has nearly 20 years of expertise and experience behind ...

That 16-pin connector tucked beneath the dashboard of every car built after 1996 is one of the most underused tools available to everyday drivers. Most people encounter the OBD-II port only when a ...

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. The OBD acronym stands for on-board diagnostics, a system built into modern vehicles that monitors the performance of the engine and other ...

A few weeks ago, I decided to buy a couple of cheap OBD-II adapters to start out some ethical hacking experiments. However, when looking for a reliable adapter on the market, you can get a lot of ...

This article was updated in November 2025 with new information. You know you’ve earned your DIY stripes when you can stay calm the moment something goes wrong. And with cars, that moment usually ...