Ī primary benefit of this is that OBD systems give the vehicle owner or repair technician access to the status of the various vehicle sub-systems. In the United States, this self-diagnostic is a requirement to comply with Federal Emissions standards to detect failures that may increase the vehicle tailpipe emissions to more than 150% of the standard to which it was originally certified. On-board diagnostics ( OBD) is a term referring to a vehicle's self-diagnostic and reporting capability. Used to connect to the SAE J1962 Data Link Connector (DLC) found in many cars of the era. Various angles and details of a 'MaxScan OE509' – a fairly typical onboard diagnostics (OBD) handheld scanner from the first decade of the 21st century.