The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority says it recently enhanced its vehicle maintenance capabilities by adding the Vehicle Diagnostic Assistant from Diagnostic Innovations to all of its maintenance facilities.
The VDA, designed to assist technicians, is a user-friendly touchscreen-operated computer-based tool that focuses on the vehicle’s engine, transmission and braking systems. “The state-of-the-art vehicle diagnostic system will reduce downtime for the buses in the garage and improve efficiency,” says Victor Guillot, WMATA senior bus engineer.
WMATA operates the fifth-largest bus network in the United States with 1,477 vehicles. “Providing the highest-quality service to our bus patrons is of the utmost importance to WMATA,” says Robert Golden, WMATA manager of bus engineering. “Our patrons need to depend on timely bus services, and our buses must be on the street and on schedule. We wanted our technicians to be able to accurately diagnose problems, and we wanted fast turnaround time on repairs. By securing the Vehicle Diagnostic Assistant, we are now able to achieve those goals.”
WMATA and Diagnostic Innovations recently rolled out the system to each of WMATA’s maintenance locations. “With a full array of engines, and a variety of tranmissions, ABS brake and multiplexing systems, the technicians can now diagnose and analyze fault codes and vehicle issues with a single diagnostic tool, which is user-friendly and easy to understand,” says Harpol Kapoor, WMATA assistant manager of bus engineering. “It is ‘one-stop shopping.’ They have access to fault trees and bus schematics at their fingertips.”
Diagnostic Innovations, based in Southfield, Mich., provides electronic software and diagnostic solutions to help increase the productivity of vehicle technicians. “Our powerful system has a friendly graphical user interface that guides the technician through the proper choice of applications as well as interface boxes and connectors,” says Drew Gibson, manager of fleet and commercial business for Diagnostic Innovations. “It will help WMATA’s well-trained vehicle technicians become even more efficient in their job.”
For more information, go to www.diagnosticinnovations.com.
