Al Sweigart in Elk: "Can anyone name a model of car that wil..."

Can anyone name a model of car that will show the ODB-II codes and information on the center dashboard screen? It seems like we have more sophisticated ways of conveying information than a single Check Engine light these days.

Or is this one of those questions that is rude to ask under capitalism?

March 13, 2026 at 6:22:40 PM

no, but generally speaking the ODB ports are easily accessible and talk ethernet these days

Ethernet? So retro. I have a Bluetooth one that talks to my iPhone

yeah, I’ve got a cheap Veelink Bluetooth OBD plug from Amazon, plus a “Car Scanner” app on my phone, and the app even works in CarPlay so I can make the connection and see realtime data logging while driving, or record that data stream on a track day to overlay with video.

Replying to

well yeah, it only needs to ethernet as far as the dongle ;)

my understanding (as someone who does not currently own a car, mind) is that it's the latter, but at least consumer-grade ODB-II scanners are cheap nowadays.

can't name one. I just do the bluetooth dongle thing.

(Which I have anyways because EV and A Better Route Planner)

to support your thesis, my car (a Nissan 2025) isn't compatible with all those Apps reading OBD-II codes with a ELM327 adapter.