Mahle has announced an agreement with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) that gives users of Mahle’s diagnostic tools — such as TechPro or Connex — access to FCA’s servers and the ability to retrieve information for diagnostics and service.

This comes in the wake of the vehicle manufacturer protecting its OBD interfaces with a security gateway. The gateway is designed to stop third parties from gaining access to security-relevant functions of FCA’s vehicles through diagnostic and connectivity protocols.

According to Mahle, changes to these vehicle systems were previously only possible using original FCA testers. Now, shops can purchase access from Mahle in the form of an annual subscription that will allow access to FCA’s portal.

“All relevant diagnostic additions will then be available and can be fully used,” said Joachim Schneeweiss – Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) sales manager for Mahle Aftermarket Service Solutions. “Users will be able to work with their diagnostic tool from Mahle as usual, switching quickly to the FCA server in order to download the certificate that is required for certain service functions.”