User manual

VCDS – Generic OBD2 - Section 23-A
(VAG 1551/1552 Address Word 33)
Generic OBD-II functionality. Because many of VW's recent factory repair manuals no
longer have traditional 01-Engine "On Board Diagnostic" information and have replaced it
with "Generic Scan Tool" data, this has become much more important than it was in the
past. Click each of the Mode buttons to access each OBD-II function.
Generic OBD-II functionality is "Supported" only on VW, Audi, Seat, and Skoda
cars. It will likely work on many other brands of cars. We'd be happy to receive feedback
as to what other brands and models of cars it does and does not work on, however, we do
not feel obligated to make it work on other manufacturer's cars.
Generic OBD-II functionality is limited to cars using ISO 9141-2 ("CARB"), ISO 14230
("KWP-2000") and ISO-15765 ("CAN") protocols. None of our interfaces support the
SAE J1850-VPW and J1850-PWM protocols used by most US-market pre-2008 GM and
Ford products, so VCDS cannot work at all on those cars. Most early (1996-2000) OBD-II
compatible Chrysler cars used the compatible ISO-9141-2 while many 2001-2007 Chrysler
cars use the incompatible SAE-J1850 standard. Most European and Asian cars use ISO
or CAN and should be compatible when used with an interface that supports those
protocols. Generic OBD-II compatibility was required as of model year 1996 in the USA,
model year 1998 in Canada, and 2001 (gasoline) or 2004 (diesel) for in the European
Market. All 2008 and newer vehicles sold in the US are required to use CAN-Bus
diagnostics for Generic OBD-II so it shouldn't hurt to try this function on any brand.