Electronic control apparatus

An electronic control apparatus comprising:

• a controller performing malfunction diagnostics to a target device equipped to a vehicle, the controller performing each of the malfunction diagnostics in response to a satisfaction of a predetermined diagnostic start condition after a turning on of an ignition switch of the vehicle in a normal case;
• a storage storing a total number of trips and a total number of the malfunction diagnostics, the total number of the trips being counted up by one when the controller is powered on and then powered off, and the total number of the malfunction diagnostics being counted up by one when each of the malfunction diagnostics is completed successfully;
• a calculator calculating a ratio of the total number of the malfunction diagnostics to the total number of the trips as a monitoring frequency;
• and
• an estimator estimating a potential travelling pattern of the vehicle based on a vehicle state during a start-up period, the start-up period being a preliminarily determined period of time right after the turning on of the ignition switch and the potential travelling pattern being an estimated travelling pattern under which the vehicle travels after an elapse of the start-up period, wherein
• the estimator estimates the potential travelling pattern of the vehicle based on reference information stored in a database, and the reference information indicating a relationship between the vehicle state during the start-up period and an actual travelling pattern of the vehicle after the elapse of the start-up period,
• the potential travelling pattern includes a short distance travel, and the short distance travel is defined as a travel that ends up before a completion of the malfunction diagnostic activated in response to a satisfaction of the predetermined diagnostic start condition, and
• when the estimator estimates that the potential travelling pattern of the vehicle is the short distance travel, the controller forcibly starts the malfunction diagnostic before the predetermined diagnostic start condition is satisfied.