Testing tech: how a new gadget can help diagnose your car problem
"Mechanic" is his native language, but for those who are learning the lingo, it can be overwhelming.
It's the very reason students at the Georgia Institute of Technology have found success in their startup gadget, called FIXD.
It's a device that explains what's wrong with your vehicle, and gives an estimated cost for repair.
"There's some issues that that may seem confusing or sound confusing, but they're actually really simple fixes," said John Gattuso, FIXD CEO/co-founder.
This device promises to break it down in ways you'll understand and the process is pretty simple.
Plug "FIXD" into a gasoline vehicle's diagnostic port, found in vehicles 1996 and newer, then connect the car to the free app on a smartphone via Bluetooth, and wait.
Sure enough, we got the same result Adrian's $5,000 sensor read, but FIXD only costs $60.
"It's nice to have an idea of what codes you see and then bring it to the mechanic, and if he tells you there's a whole list of other stuff wrong that's with it, you can kind of step back and be like, 'Well, maybe this guy isn't very honest,'" said Adrian.
Well, we wanted to test to see if this whole thing would check out, so we took one of our own vehicles with the check engine light on.
And sure enough, a code came up saying: catalyst system efficiency below threshold bank 2.
We took the car to our mechanic to see if the code checked out.
Trent Chase, a mechanic at Adrian's Auto center, tested it out and his sensor's code read the same as FIXD.
"It's definitely something that's nice for people, especially people who are leery about shops like this and think that we're always out for a money grab, you know?" said Trent.
We asked FIXD CEO about any issues or negative reviews the gadget has gotten.
"Some people would request additional features, like hey, can you detect our ABS light or our airbag light? Those are things that we're working on enabling," said John.
What does our mechanic think?
"It definitely gives you a starting place as to where to start looking on your vehicle," Adrian says, "There's more diagnostic that needs to be done besides just reading the code and replacing the part."
What started as three people in a basement, now approaching its millionth unit sold, all while saving people thousands of dollars spent at the dealership.
FIXD will update automatically on its own without replacing the hardware.
For more information on FIXD, or if you would like to buy it, click here.
https://www.wday.com/news/4444477-testing-tech-how-new-gadget-can-help-diagnose-your-car-problem