This article is from page 56 of the 2005-09-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 56 JPG
AA Ireland has rolled out a new state-of- the art technology across its patrol force to assist with diagnosing car faults even quicker at the roadside for its 270,000 members.
With a total of 110,000 breakdowns to attend to per year, the technology should further improve AA Ireland’s 80 per cent roadside repair rate and reinforce its ‘Go- not-Tow’ policy.
The €75 million investment by the AA in the UK and Ireland means that AA Ire- land’s patrols will be kitted out with diag- nostic equipment in specially re-enforced
laptops.
Designed by the AA, the VIXEN (Ve- hicle Inspection crossed with Electronic Notebook) notebook enables patrols to diagnose vehicle faults quicker at the roadside.
The system uses CRYPTON vehicle service information combined with a knowledge database of experience learned in the field by AA patrols, allowing AA staff to collate and share knowledge.
“VIXEN represents years of research and development for the AA,” explains public affairs manager Conor Faughnan.
“This major investment is a revolution-
ary step in the diagnosis of automotive faults and is the greatest single leap in patrol communications since the adop- tion of the two-way radio in the 1940s. It is, quite simply, the future of roadside assistance.”
As technology has advanced cars are now increasingly reliant on computerised ‘brains’ — the Electronic Control Module or ECU — to regulate their ignition, trans- mission, anti-lock brakes and other vital systems.
A plug-in device allows the AA Patrol to interrogate this electronic ‘brain’ to discover what the problem is using the VIXEN system.