Vehicle diagnostic system, vehicle diagnostic method, and external diagnostic device

A vehicle diagnosing method of performing a fault diagnosis of a vehicle by performing communication between a plurality of electronic control units in the vehicle and an external diagnosing apparatus and reading out fault codes recorded in the electronic control units into the external diagnosing apparatus, wherein the vehicle comprises:

• a plurality of warning lamps associated with specific ones of the electronic control units, and configured to demand an inspection or repair of a failure which has occurred in the vehicle;
• and
• an idling stop controller configured to automatically execute an idling stop for stopping a drive source of the vehicle from idling when a predetermined condition is satisfied;
• wherein when the electronic control units detect a fault in target ranges controlled thereby, the electronic control units record the fault codes;
• the fault codes include idling stop fault codes defined as inhibiting the idling stop, and non-idling stop fault codes not defined as inhibiting the idling stop;
• the idling stop fault codes include first idling stop fault codes defined as energizing the warning lamps and second idling stop fault codes not defined as energizing the warning lamps;
• and
• for performing a fault diagnosis with respect to non-execution of the idling stop, the external diagnosing apparatus extracts only the second idling stop fault codes, among the first idling stop fault codes and the second idling stop fault codes, from the electronic control units.

An external diagnosing apparatus for performing a fault diagnosis of a vehicle by communicating with a plurality of electronic control units in the vehicle and reading out fault codes recorded in the electronic control units into the external diagnosing apparatus, wherein

• the fault codes are recorded when the electronic control units detect a fault in target ranges controlled thereby;
• the fault codes include idling stop fault codes defined as inhibiting an idling stop for stopping a drive source of the vehicle from idling, and non-idling stop fault codes not defined as inhibiting the idling stop;
• the idling stop fault codes include:
• first idling stop fault codes defined as energizing warning lamps of the vehicle, the warning lamps being associated with specific ones of the electronic control units and configured to demand an inspection or repair of a failure which has occurred in the vehicle;
• and
• second idling stop fault codes not defined as energizing the warning lamps;
• and
• for performing a fault diagnosis with respect to the non-execution of the idling stop, the external diagnosing apparatus extracts only the second idling stop fault codes, among the first idling stop fault codes and the second idling stop fault codes, from the electronic control units.