PROGRAMMING DONGLE
These handy devices include all the electronic power you need to finish the specific job at hand, in some cases saving you time even if you have a scan tool.
without any of the hassle of the programming. Simply install the rack, perform an alignment, insert the dongle, and wait a few seconds. No outsourcing to a dealership, nor wasting a tenth or two getting the scan tool, connecting to the internet, and finding the right menus and procedures. Since then, Dorman’s engineers have found other creative opportunities to make aftermarket replacements better than their OE alternatives through software, including pre-programmed fuel pump control modules for a variety of 2008-2014 GM vehicles (P/Ns 601-130, 601-131 and 601- 132). These don’t even require a dongle – they are purely plug-and-play. Another programming application has been saving shelf space for retailers, distributors and jobbers. For instance, Dorman’s 599-210XD and 599-211XD climate control modules, manufactured at our advanced electronics facility in Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, combine many different OE numbers that only differ in programming. That creates the ability to stock fewer products to cover the same number of vehicles, in turn increasing part availability for garages. Those HVAC modules are also a good example of the one place where the aftermarket has an advantage when it comes to replacement electronics. OEMs often start developing vehicles five years before that model’s released, and aftermarket manufacturers typically don’t release replacements until vehicles are out of their warranty window, creating at least a decade’s difference in technology. That might not mean as much with pure mechanical parts, but it’s a lifetime for advances in processing power. That’s what enabled Dorman’s engineers to squeeze so much more information into modules that look the same as the originals. “OEMs aren’t going to redesign a part unless there’s something really wrong with it,” Nyce said. “Meanwhile, we can use today’s technology to fix yesterday’s vehicles.”
Dorman's electronics teams hard at work. From top: an engineer performs
data logging in our Proving Grounds Garage, testing a programming dongle, assembling a key fob circuit board, an electronics assembler at our Lewisberry, PA, facility, and an electronics engineer testing various modules.
“We couldn’t really tell people to drive perfectly straight for two miles,” said Nate Bailey, a Director of Product Management who worked on the project. So, the answer was another OBDII dongle. They tested both the rack and programmer extensively, including on the same test track that Ford tested theirs, as well as one infamous night in the parking lot of Dorman’s headquarters in Colmar, Pennsylvania. “It was Christmas Eve, and the parking lot was empty, so we were driving our test truck around in circles, when a police officer stopped us to ask what we were doing,” said Dorman Director of Engineering Raja Govindasamy. "We showed him our Dorman badges, and told him we were tuning a new design. He wound up just asking us to turn off the headlights." The resulting rack and programmer – P/N 601-900, featured more extensively in OE FIX Guide Vol. 3 – delivers all the functionality and compatibility of the OEM unit
Products shown, from left: pre-programmed FPDMs, key fob with dongle, and electronic power steering rack with dongle.
12 OE FIX TM GUIDE | VOLUME 4
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