What Does On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) Mean?

On-board diagnostics (OBD) is a special system which is implemented in nearly all engine components. It is actually an electronic system which helps in keeping the emission levels of engines in check by monitoring the performance index of various engine components. It, thus, also helps in the checking for any major fault in a component which can damage the whole engine. Another service that an OBD can perform is that it can take information from its various sensors and control the fuel injectors to give the optimum performance.

Techopedia Explains On-Board Diagnostics (OBD)

An on-board diagnostics system has many different parts such as the sensors, actuators and an Electronic Control Unit (ECU). All these components work in perfect coordination to sense any kind of damage in the system and monitor emission levels of the various parts of the engine. The ECU is like the brain of the system. It collects the data from the various kinds of sensors, for example, oxygen sensors, and analyzes the data. Based on this analysis, it controls the actuators like fuel injectors to give the best performance.