Every car owner has encountered the infamous ‘Check Engine’ light, at some point or another, and while some people simply ignore it, others will panic and rush to the mechanic to see what’s wrong with the vehicle.
But what if you can see what is wrong with the engine via smartphone in real time, to see how serious and expensive the issue is? Well this is not a work of fiction anymore, as a new Kickstarter campaign has been launched, planning to release such a device, called FixD.
The device simply plugs into the cars’ diagnostic board via OBDII (found in cars manufactured after 1996), and communicates with the smartphone via Bluetooth. As soon as the peripheral recognizes what the problem is, it pushes the data to the application, telling the user what the problem is, how serious it is, and how much it will cost to repair.
Fixd can be left plugged into the car’s system, so that once the user’s phone is in the vehicles vicinity, he will know if there is a problem with the engine, or if it’s time to service the vehicle. The application will allow multiple profiles to be created for people with more than one vehicle, keeping a detailed report of each vehicle accordingly.
The funding goal of this project is set at $30,000, and there’s 17 days to go with less than half of the goal reached. The device will be yours for the low pledge of $50, which is reasonable enough. For more information check out their website.
