“Regeneration.”
The word alone is enough to send chills down a fleet service manager’s spine. Although the reliability of aftertreatment systems has improved over the years, it’s still a top service pain point for fleets polled by Fleet Service Technology. One of the latest headaches is the abuse of the regen inhibit button. With a single push, a driver can prevent an active regen from occurring once activated.
“This button is primarily designed to prevent an active regeneration from occurring due to a vehicle being in an area that is not suitable for a active regen to occur or due to other environmental factors,” said Scott Sutarik, associate vice president of commercial vehicle solutions at Geotab. “This button, however, can be abused by drivers who frequently utilize it to prevent a regeneration from occurring. The end result is a broken truck that needs the DPF to be baked. Utilizing telematics, fleets can determine which drivers are abusing this feature before an on-road failure has occurred.”
“Replacing items like the DPF are preventable when you’re able to identify drivers who are aborting the regeneration process,” agreed Mark Wallin, vice president of product management at Verizon Connect. “With a connected vehicle, a heavy-duty service manager will have remote access to data ranging from instant diagnostic trouble codes [DTCs] notifications to predictive insights from critical vehicle data like odometer, engine hours, low battery voltage and, where available, things like low tire pressure and DPF soot level, etc. For DTCs, a description of the issue, severity and recommended action makes it easier for the service manager to make the right decisions.”
Read our full story on creating a clearer service picture using truck telematics here.
