Technician Nation Is a Free Resource on Trending Vehicle Issues

Oct. 31, 2018

Knowing the vehicle issues that may be coming into their shops can help techs plan training, stock parts and have appropriate service tools ready. Such data is available at Technician Nation, a free online community.

“Every user of a scan tool powered by Bosch is providing us with insight on vehicles worked on around the nation,” Alison Accavitti, Technician Nation publisher and marketing communications manager, told Modern Tire Dealer at the 2018 Automotive Aftermarket Product Expo (AAPEX).

Robert Bosch LLC created Technician Nation to be a resource for addressing vehicle issues. The online and on-tool platform includes a dashboard aggregating nationwide service trends that can be segmented by geography, vehicle and code, based on vehicle scans from technicians using diagnostic tools powered by Bosch.

The dashboard reveals trending vehicle issues in a shop’s area and can be used to identify if vehicle problems are trending locally or nationally and provide the best information to help properly diagnose the vehicle. Knowing the geographic occurrence of specific vehicle codes can help technicians to plan for tool and equipment purchases, to anticipate the training they will need, and to validate vehicle issues with customers.

“There is no other dashboard that tells out-of-warranty vehicle service trends,” says Accavitti.

Technician Nation is about bringing technicians together around their most common service challenges for support and conversations, according to Accavitti.  “Being able to see vehicles in service and top codes in a specific region is meaningful for shop purchase planning, training and customer transparency.”

In addition to having access to the data on the platform, subscribers will receive the Technician Nation e-newsletter with original information on new trends, tech tips, product updates, promotions and more.

Monthly trend reports will include tech tips, trending vehicle issues and more. Tips will include breakouts of top vehicles experiencing a specific code, top cities working on a particular vehicle and interactive training videos straight from Bosch technicians explaining how to service vehicles and get them back on the road quickly and safely. Reports published in the summer of 2018 reveal:

  • “More than 25% of vehicles serviced by technicians using Bosch professional scan tools were light-duty trucks.”
  • “The 2004 Ford F-150 ranked as the top vehicle serviced with the P1000 code - OBD Systems Readiness Test Not Complete.”
  • “The 2008 Chevy Impala 3.5L ranked the No. 1 passenger car in service.”

At this point, technicians can leave comments on the platform but it will evolve into a true online forum. Says Accavitti, “In the future Technician Nation will be a forum where techs can talk to each other about trending issues."

Anyone can sign up to join the Technician Nation platform, and technicians who currently use a Bosch diagnostic tool or an OTC tool with Bosch hardware will have access to sign up for the e-newsletter through their current software. For more information about the platform and to join the community, visit www.techniciannation.com.