DPA Health Version 1.7: Now Available from DG Technologies Truck-Connect
DG Technologies, the leader in Secure Diagnostics, has released a new DPA Health update, version 1.7, designed specifically for Heavy Duty vehicle prognostics using the DPA XL. Built to provide essential health information for vehicles’ battery, starter and alternator systems, DPA Health helps you save money in the shop and Protects Your Uptime.
Some new features of version 1.7 include:
Prioritized J1939 responses for Engine Hours and Odometer on mixed-mode vehicles (J1939/ISO15765)
Improved conversion accuracy for more reliable data readings
Updated scaling to support odometer readings
Better data consistency and improved support across a wide range of heavy-duty applications
Performance improvements, enhancements and bug fixes
To download version 1.7, log in to your Truck-Connect portal account at www.truck-connect.com, click your username in the upper right corner, and select Downloads from the drop-down menu.
All DG Technologies tools, such as the DPA XL, come complete with CyberGuard protection, found on our store at www.dgtech.com/shop. We ensure that all of our tools and software stay up to date, it is recommended to bookmark or save not only the Truck-Connect portal and downloads screen for software updates, but also our downloads page at www.dgtech.com/downloads to keep all of your tools up to date as well.
Contact: John McNelis,
DG Technologies Sales and Marketing Manager,
248-888-2000, sales@dgtech.com
DG Technologies to Spotlight New Products at TMC’s Spring Meeting
FARMINGTON HILLS, MICH., March 04, 2025 – The DG Technologies team is excited to head to Nashville next week to introduce the latest in its line of secure diagnostic fleet tools at TMC’s 2025 Annual Meeting.
The company’s new DPA XL PRO device and new DG Diagnostics (DGD) PRO enhanced diagnostic software feature DoIP for faster Wi-Fi remote diagnostics and reprogramming, J1979-2 and J1979-3 BEV and ZEV trucks as well as all heavy-duty gas, diesel and hybrid vehicles.
DG Technologies, which specializes in vehicle network engineering, fleet cybersecurity and diagnostic and reprogramming tools, is a longtime participant in the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) Technology and Maintenance Council’s (TMC) annual event, held this year from March 10 to 13 at Nashville’s Music City Center.
The DPA XL PRO and DGD PRO contain built-in CyberGuard technology and use Diagnostic over Internet Protocol (DoIP), a modern standard for vehicle diagnostics that facilitates communication over a network. The DPA XL PRO device also works with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and supports J1979-2, J1979-3, J1939, ISO15765, J1979 classic and J1587/J1708.
The new DGD PRO software will be introduced on the DG Technologies’ Truck-Connect portal, a secure online dashboard that offers all of DG’s advanced software applications in one place for fleet compliance, predictive maintenance of trucks’ electrical charging systems and even an Android mobile app. The web portal houses all of DG Technologies’ and partner Synercon Technologies’ cloud-based applications and products on one easy-to-navigate site, including DPA Inspect, DPA Health, DPA Mobile and DGD PRO, which each work with DG’s DPA devices to provide fleet analytics, mobile diagnostics and crash investigation data.
To find out more about the new DPA XL PRO hardware and DGD PRO software, DG’s Truck-Connect dashboard and more ways to Protect Your Uptime stop by and see the DG team at booth #1735 at TMC’s 2025 Annual Meeting.
Contact: John McNelis, DG Technologies Sales and Marketing Manager, 248-888-2000, sales@dgtech.com
For more information on DG Technologies’ new DPA Inspect software and its CARB-approved hardware and software kits for Clean Truck Check, visit www.dpainspect.truck-connect.com.
DG Technologies to Showcase Clean Truck Check Tools at TMC in Nashville
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich., Jan. 27, 2025 – Secure vehicle diagnostics leader DG Technologies is gearing up to spotlight its expanded Truck-Connect series of fleet analysis tools at TMC’s 2025 Annual Meeting this March in Nashville, Tenn.
This year, as an exhibitor at booth #1735, the Detroit-area company will feature its new DPA Inspect (www.dpainspect.truck-connect.com), an application certified last fall by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for use in the state’s Clean Truck Check program.
DG Technologies, which specializes in vehicle network engineering, fleet cybersecurity and diagnostics and reprogramming tools, is a longtime participant in the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) Technology and Maintenance Council’s (TMC) annual event, which will take place this year from March 10 to 13 at Nashville’s Music City Center.
DPA Inspect software works with DG Technologies’ long-trusted DPA XL and DPA 5 PRO diagnostic and reprogramming devices to extract and encrypt on-board diagnostic (OBD) data from trucks and send the information directly to CARB for a pass/fail determination.
Compliance testing for CARB’s Clean Truck Check started last fall and will involve regular testing of most non-gasoline heavy-duty vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) over 14,000 pounds that operate on public roads and highways in California.
DG’s approved DPA Inspect software and DPA devices went through extensive testing to be certified and are permitted for use as part of Clean Truck Check only by technicians who are credentialed through CARB’s no-cost tester training course and have received a Tester ID.
Truck-Connect is a web portal that houses a customer dashboard and all of DG Technologies’ and partner Synercon Technologies’ cloud-based applications and products, including DPA Inspect, DPA Health, DPA Mobile and DPA Diagnostics, that work with DG’s DPA devices to provide predictive fleet analytics, mobile diagnostics, crash investigation data and utilization optimization.
Contact:
John McNelis, DG Technologies Sales and Marketing Manager, (248) 888-2000, sales@dgtech.com
For more information on DG Technologies’ new DPA Inspect software and its CARB-approved hardware and software kits for Clean Truck Check, visit https://www.truck-connect.com/.
DPA Inspect makes it easy for technicians to determine the health of a vehicle’s emissions control system by performing and submitting the inspection and maintenance testing required for CARB Clean Truck Check compliance using our secure software and trusted DPA diagnostics tools.
In this tutorial, we take you through the process of purchasing DPA Inspect or any DPA Inspect bundle offered.
DPA Inspect and DPA XL are your approved inspection tools for CARB Clean Truck Check success.
According to Vehicle Service Pros’ 2023 Aftermarket Profile on Diagnostics, 44 percent of auto shop owners and technicians offered reflashing or reprogramming services. Of those who didn’t, 17 percent said they would but they don’t own the equipment for it.
That’s where DG Technologies’ VSI NxGen comes in.
The VSI NxGen, DG’s latest vehicle standard interface offers users car manufacturer software compatibility to give automotive technicians dealer-level capabilities to reprogram cars. Compared to bringing in mobile programming servicers or towing the vehicle to a dealer, the VSI NxGen is simple, secure and saves time. And to maintain your own car, this is a fun and easy tool to use. It is the latest and most cybersecure device, offering technicians and vehicle security professionals ECU programming, ADAS calibration, diagnostics and security access with J2534-1/-2 compliance.
Trusted by OEMs, the VSI NxGen has been tested and used since it came out in 2020, as the latest version of our VSI brand. This DG Technologies tool allows customers to run vehicle diagnostics, module programming, ADAS calibration, key programming, and recording and analyzing vehicle network data through DG Diagnostics. The secure connection from PC to vehicle through our USB connection is protected by CyberGuard through an embedded hardware security module.
These days, access to the latest SAE J2534-compliant device is essential for auto repair. In 1996, many engine and transmission ECUs began requiring software updates and programming, and now many electronically controlled parts require periodic software updates and programming upon installation. It was as that time that DG Technologies came on the scene as a leader in creating the necessary tools to keep up with advancements in the industry. Recent Right to Repair legislation has now brought access to software-driven ECU programming, vehicle diagnostics, repair information and vehicle security access to shops and technicians. With the VSI NxGen, advanced repair and revenue opportunities are now available to everyone.
The VSI NxGen is SAE J2534-compliant. It has four independent CAN channels, and is both CAN FD and FT CAN capable. It meets mandated emission-related programming for all vehicle makes and models.
If you are in the business, the return on investment and benefits of controlling the entire process to serve your customers are clear. Make your shop stand out as the local expert with the best repair turnaround time with DG Technologies’ VSI NxGen.
FRANKENMUTH, Mich. April 5, 2024– DG Technologies product specialist and education coordinator Mark Pope was in Frankenmuth in February and awarded the winning mid-Michigan school with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Collegiate Cup.
The cup is presented each year at the SAE Mid-Michigan’s National Engineers Week Annual Banquet and Meeting to the team that places highest in the SAE Collegiate Chapter Project Presentation Competition at the annual meeting. The event’s competition is judged based on the quality of the oral presentation of the teams’ “Design Series” projects, with top honors this year going to Saginaw Valley State University.
Attendees and judges saw presentations by Central Michigan and Kettering universities’ teams for their BAJA SAE Series, in which each team designed and built a prototype of an all-weather, rugged, single-seat, off road recreational vehicle for competition this fall. Students from Central Michigan, Kettering and Saginaw Valley State universities gave presentations on their work in the Formula SAE Series, for which they conceived, designed, fabricated and developed small formula-style vehicles for competition this May. And students from Kettering presented on their participation, in partnership with General Motors, for the AutoDrive Challenge, in which they developed a full autonomous driving passenger vehicle to navigate an urban driving course this summer.
“They actually use what they learn in the classroom to build these vehicles,” Pope said of the student competitors. Pope, one of many at DG Technologies who volunteers time and expertise with SAE, organized and presided over the banquet meeting this year.
Pope noted that companies hire students from these competitions because they know the students already have training and experience. “They know they can hit the ground running,” he said.
DG Technologies works in association with many domestic and foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and tier 1 and 2 suppliers to the automotive, heavy-duty, agriculture, off-road, cybersecurity, military and recreational vehicle transportation markets and has a long affiliation with SAE International, the American Trucking Association’s Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) and tier 1 and 2 supplier organizations. The company is a leading provider of secure aftermarket diagnostic products, engineering development tools and heavy-duty vehicle digital forensics. In 2019, DG Technologies’ parent company, the Dearborn Group Inc., acquired Synercon Technologies, which specializes in vehicle crash data extraction. Zachos runs both companies from his offices in Farmington Hills, Mich.
Contact DG sales:
John McNelis sales@dgtech.com (248) 888-2000 33604 W Eight Mile Rd. Farmington Hills, MI 48335
NEW ORLEANS, March 8, 2024 – Mark Zachos, president of DG Technologies, was in New Orleans this week leading the conversation on cybersecurity in the trucking industry for the American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council’s (TMC) Annual Meeting & Transportation Technology Exhibition.
Zachos, an expert in the fields of in-vehicle communications and vehicle cybersecurity, is the chair of TMC’s Cybersecurity Issues Task Force, a position he has held for the last five years. He and DG Technologies design technology for in-vehicle networks in the automotive and trucking industries, including secure diagnostics, reprogramming and data extraction devices and tools. A Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) fellow and past chairman of SAE’s Detroit Section, Zachos also teaches at University of Detroit Mercy and is the director of the school’s Vehicle Cyber Engineering Lab, which he helped create.
Mark Zachos speaks at the TMC Annual Meeting in New Orleans
The Cybersecurity Issues Task Force was commissioned this week with looking at exploring preventive cybersecurity methods, developing guidelines for fleets to create their own cybersecurity programs, standardizing over-the-air engine control module (ECM) programming through specific protocols that allow fail safe options and secure messaging, working with other associations to strengthen related standards by fleet user influence and examining the development of a reporting and responding alert program for industry users.
Cyber threats come in many forms and with varying motives, Zachos said. Some cyber criminals are looking for private or proprietary data to sell on the dark net or to leverage as ransom from companies, while in other cases, the threats might originate from another country’s efforts to undermine the United States’ logistical systems or infrastructure.
Zachos explained that while cybersecurity on the I.T. side of many companies often is tight, the potential threats on the maintenance side are not as well understood. “It’s kind of new ground,” he said.
“The idea is that in a truck you have the electronic control units communicating with each other,” he explained. “The bad guys know they have the technology to listen to that communication and to reverse engineer it, and maybe inject something into that communication stream that disrupts the operation of your vehicle. And it may not be a shutdown event it may be just something to slow you down, something to make your business a lot more inefficient.”
But it also could cause an entire fleet to shut down, he said, and there are still many in the industry who don’t believe it can happen to them. So, Zachos continues to work – through TMC, other industry organizations, the University of Detroit Mercy and his own company – to inform, educate, create products and help set industry standards in efforts to identify and head off cyberattacks before they can cause damage.
“There are always new recommended practices that are presented, discussed and balloted, and all of us look forward to offering our ideas that will improve maintenance in the industry,” DG Technologies sales and marketing manager John McNelis said of this week’s TMC meeting and exhibition. “DG Technologies plays a key role in offering expert information that is used to create new industry standards,” McNelis said.
TMC’s annual spring meeting and exhibition draw more than 5,000 leaders in commercial vehicle transportation, including presidents and CEOs, senior maintenance and equipment executives, directors of maintenance, fleet managers and other key decision makers. TMC bills the event, held March 4-7 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, as the premier technical conference for maximizing fleet performance and efficiency in the trucking industry, calling it “the one-stop shop for fleet education, supported by the industry’s only member-driven best practices.”
DG Technologies was in booth 3832 for the event, which ran from March 4th-7th, 2024
DG Technologies, which Zachos started more than 35 years ago, also had a booth at the event. McNelis said the exhibition gives him the opportunity each year to talk up new hardware and software that will join the company’s catalog, which currently includes the DPA XL heavy-duty diagnostics device and Synercon Forensic Link Adapter crash data extracting tool, “and how these new products and services can optimize truck maintenance and uptime.”
Mike Jewell, DG Technologies’ senior sales engineer said he looks forward to the event for the chance to continue marketing and promoting the company to further grow brand awareness and to maintain and grow its reputation as a trusted source for vehicle technology. “It’s also important to attend because it allows DG to learn firsthand what’s going on from industry leaders and also to influence it with our expertise and product know-how,” he said.
DG Technologies works in association with many domestic and foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and tier 1 and 2 suppliers to the automotive, heavy-duty, agriculture, off-road, cybersecurity, military and recreational vehicle transportation markets and has a long affiliation with SAE International, the American Trucking Association’s Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) and tier 1 and 2 supplier organizations. The company is a leading provider of secure aftermarket diagnostic products, engineering development tools and heavy-duty vehicle digital forensics. In 2019, DG Technologies’ parent company, the Dearborn Group Inc., acquired Synercon Technologies, which specializes in vehicle crash data extraction. Zachos runs both companies from his offices in Farmington Hills, Mich.
Contact DG sales:
John McNelis sales@dgtech.com (248) 888-2000 33604 W Eight Mile Rd. Farmington Hills, MI 48335
DG Technologies is proud to be among the experienced industry leaders heading to Louisiana next week for the American Trucking Association’s (ATA) Technology & Maintenance Council’s (TMC) Annual Meeting & Transportation Technology Exhibition. Billed as the premier technical conference for maximizing fleet performance and efficiency in the trucking industry, the event will be held March 4-7 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in downtown New Orleans.
“There are always new recommended practices that are presented, discussed and balloted, and all of us are looking forward to offering our ideas that will improve maintenance in the industry,” said John McNelis, sales manager for DG Technologies. “Personally, I’m also looking forward to talking with friends and colleagues at the exhibition about what is new at DG Technologies and how these new products and services can optimize truck maintenance and uptime.”
Mike Jewell (left), Mark Zachos (Middle), and John McNelis (Right) of DG Technologies pose in front of the DG Technologies booth at TMC in 2023.
McNelis says the company plans to make new product announcements at the exhibition, from its booth (#3832) at the event. He is excited to introduce others in the industry to DG Technologies’ new product lineup that will join the company’s catalog that includes the trusted DPA XL heavy-duty diagnostics device and Synercon Forensic Link Adapter crash data extracting tool.
Mike Jewell, DG Technologies’ senior sales engineer, said he looks forward to this event for the chance to continue marketing and promoting the company to further grow brand awareness and to maintain and grow its stellar reputation. “It’s also important to attend because it allows DG to learn firsthand what’s going on from industry leaders and also to influence it with our expertise and product know-how,” he said.
DG Technologies will be in booth #3832 this year at TMC in New Orleans
TMC’s annual meeting draws more than 5,000 leaders in commercial vehicle transportation, including presidents and CEOs, senior maintenance and equipment executives, directors of maintenance, fleet managers and other key decision makers. TMC calls it “the one-stop shop for fleet education, supported by the industry’s only member-driven best practices.”
Mark Zachos, DG Technologies’ president and founder, will be in attendance representing the company and as the chair of TMC’s Cybersecurity Issues Task Force, which will meet on Monday as part of the event. Zachos, an expert in the field of vehicle cybersecurity and electronic network development, is a Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) fellow and past chairman of SAE’s Detroit Chapter. He also teaches at University of Detroit Mercy and is the director of the school’s Vehicle Cyber Engineering Lab, which he helped create.
At the meeting next week, Zachos and the TMC Cybersecurity Issues Task Force will explore preventive cybersecurity methods, develop guidelines for fleets to create their own cybersecurity programs, standardize over-the-air engine control module (ECM) programming through specific protocols that allow fail safe options and secure messaging, work with other associations to strengthen related standards by fleet user influence, examine the development of a reporting and responding alert program for industry users and examine the possibility of developing a cyber-intrusion challenge track as part of the TMCSuperTech competition, held each year as part of TMC’s fall meeting.
“DG Technologies plays a key role in offering expert information that is used to create new industry standards,” McNelis said.
Contact DG sales:
John McNelis sales@dgtech.com (248) 888-2000 33604 W Eight Mile Rd. Farmington Hills, MI 48335
DG Technologies President Mark Zachos attended the SAE Government Industry Meeting in Washington, DC.
DG Technologies president Mark Zachos was in Washington, D.C., Jan. 16-18, 2024, for the Society of Automotive Engineer’s (SAE) Government/Industry Meeting. Held annually in conjunction with the Washington, DC Auto Show, the SAE forum brings together representatives from regulatory agencies and the auto industry to give them an opportunity to work to find mutual understanding and set industry standards on issues including safety, security, emissions control and energy for future vehicle design.
Zachos, an SAE fellow who is also past president of the Detroit Section of the organization, attended the conference’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Cyber Workshop, which covered the safety and vulnerability of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). Participating in the Government/Industry Meeting every year “gives our company insight and understanding where those future regulations might affect our business and our customers, and from that, DG can enhance our products and services,” he said.
Mark Zachos at the SAE Cybersecurity Workshop
DG Technologies’ trusted DPA XL and VSI NxGen diagnostic and reprogramming tools are examples of how Zachos’s involvement in events like the Government/Industry Meeting benefit the company as well as the industry.
“From the relationships we build there, I know who’s who in government agencies and they know me and SAE,” said Zachos, who also teaches at University of Detroit Mercy where he helped create and continues to serve as director of the Vehicle Cyber Engineering Lab. “It helps in working together.”
The DPA XL and VSI NxGen both feature DG Technologies’ own CyberGuard cybersecurity protection as well as adhere to J2534, an SAE-designed interface standard that is mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for vehicle electronic control unit (ECU) reprogramming. According to SAE International, this standard “provides the framework to allow reprogramming software applications from all vehicle manufacturers the flexibility to work with multiple vehicle data link interface tools from multiple tool suppliers. This system enables each vehicle manufacturer to control the programming sequence for ECUs in their vehicles, but allows a single set of programming hardware and vehicle interface (tools) to be used to program modules for all vehicle manufacturers.”
With DG Technologies’ work focused on cybersecurity, diagnostics and engineering to benefit the technicians and engineers who use our products, the company continues to emphasize standards participation to help drive the automotive and truck industry forward. In addition to Zachos, several other DG employees are also involved directly with SAE, volunteering their time and expertise to serve on the SAE committees that generate those standards.
Regulations that come out of government, said Zachos, noting NHTSA and truck emissions regulations as examples, “all correspond in some way or another to SAE standards.”
Photo from Mark Zachos of the Washington Monument
Contact DG sales:
John McNelis sales@dgtech.com (248) 888-2000 33604 W Eight Mile Rd. Farmington Hills, MI 48335
VSI NxGen Version 3.09 Is Now Available for Download!
DG Technologies, #1 in Secure Reprogramming, has just released the latest VSI NxGen software update on the DG Technologies downloads page.
The VSI NxGen, DG-400-10795 is DG’s current SAE J2534-compliant Vehicle Standard Interface and contains current and future technology, secured by CyberGuard for years of dependable operation.
This new version offers improvements in cybersecurity, reliability, speed and more. The VSI NxGen works for any make and any model.
Version 3.09 features:
Updated software, firmware, bootloader and other performance improvements
D-PDU API validated for General Motors Tech2Win and other manufacturers
A feature that allows for multiple connections to protocols on the same pins in J2534
A change in CAN-related autobaud for 250k and 500k baud rate
Firmware updated application enhancements for cybersecurity
Our tools come complete with CyberGuard protection to secure your reprogramming actions!
Download the VSI NxGen Version 3.09 at www.dgtech.com/downloads. DG Technologies ensures that all tools stay up to date, and recommends all users bookmark or save this page for future updating.
Contact DG sales:
John McNelis sales@dgtech.com (248) 888-2000 33604 W Eight Mile Rd. Farmington Hills, MI 48335
