PassThru Solution PTS 100 eases access to the service portals of several vehicle manufacturers

Plochingen – The Euro 5 emission standard for passenger cars binds European vehicle manufacturers to provide independent workshops with maintenance and service information through their service portals. In daily business, however, the acquisition of data – for instance for repair tasks or reprogramming of control units – often results in time-consuming and complicated tasks for workshop employees. Bosch thus developed the PassThru Solution 100 (PTS 100) system saving independent workshops the sophisticated registration at the different manufacturer portals. PTS 100 manages the registration and data exchange with the service portals of numerous vehicle manufacturers thus increasing both efficiency and effectiveness of the workshop operations. Bosch boasts a wealth and depth of many years of experience concerning this interface technology. After all, Bosch KTS-series communication modules have already been PassThru-suitable since 2009.

Focus on German makes with high registration rates

To be able to communicate with the manufacturer portals, the diagnostic systems at the workshops need to be equipped with a so-called PassThru interface. Bosch PTS 100 is primarily designed for Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen vehicles, that is, for German makes with high registration rates. An upgrade including additional vehicle manufacturers is currently being developed. At present, the PassThru interfaces of current KTS 560 and 590 models support 14 different vehicle makes. For this purpose, PTS 100 uses the standard hardware already available at several workshops.

Installation service and specific support for workshops

The installation service is the most important part of PTS 100. Hereby, Bosch provides access and login to the different portals of German passenger-car manufacturers on hardware already available. If required, the vehicle manufacturers’ software is also installed right away. Bosch offers two service versions build upon one another: PTS 100 basic service comprises support regarding questions dealing with the topics concerning hardware, installation and updates of the vehicle manufacturer software. In addition to this, workshop are also able to use the PTS 100 expert service. In this case, workshop employees are also supported as they work right on the vehicle – for instance, concerning control-unit programming or component configuration. Moreover, users of PTS 100 expert service can also participate at a user training. Based on practical use cases, they thus learn about the optimum application of the PTS 100 system as well as the safe use of the vehicle manufacturers’ service portals.

Purchase and installation of PTS 100

Once a workshop ordered PTS 100 at its wholesaler and uploaded the documents required by the vehicle manufacturers to a Bosch server, Bosch registers the workshop at the vehicle manufacturer portals. In addition, the workshop is asked to send its KTS and DCU devices to Bosch – if it has any of them available. Bosch then installs any required vehicle manufacturer software. Eventually, this allows the workshops to log in at the vehicle manufacturers’ service portals without any IT know-how nor loss of time. They are thus able to perform maintenance and repair tasks on modern passenger cars in a safe and efficient manner and with high quality.

PTS 100 supports replacement and activation of steering systems

The replacement of electronic steering systems is a practical example of efficient use of PTS 100. Replacing these steering systems, comprehensive vehicle-specific activation and a software update are required. Workshops using PTS 100 get quick access to the service portals of the vehicle manufacturers and thus to the data stored at these portals. This significantly eases the replacement and the activation of the steering system at an independent workshop thus significantly reducing the duration of the repair.

Your wholesaler can provide additional information on PTS 100.