
How many times have we heard our dads say, "These new cars, you just can't work on 'em." He's right. Instead of blue smoke out the tailpipe and a chatter under the hood, modern cars have vague "check engine" lights and incomprehensible error codes. At CES we saw two devices that translate at least some of those ones and zeros.
Both the Actron AutoScanner Plus and the CarMD have the same goals. For those who have more money than time and prefer someone else poke around under the hood, these two competing devices give some knowledge of your car's problem before turning it over to a pro. No reason to get hosed $4,000 for a fouled plug anymore. DIYers can take those translated codes to the Internet where each company provides database solutions to your problem.
Follow the jump for details on each device.









