Automotive mechanic, Automotive technician to the average consumer coming into dealer or independent repair shops. These terms are as interchangeable to them as potato patahto but they are indeed quite different describing two different positions in the same industry. In fact in some cases they can even complement each other too.
ECU’S
The average vehicle from 1978 to 1996 had anywhere from 1 electronic control unit up 12. Today if you pull up any schematic a vehicle can have 50 to over a 100 electronic control unit’s. That all receive information from various sensors reporting current status or physical state of components. Communicating with each other over numerous data networks throughout the vehicle. Depending on the manufacturer and era the vehicle was developed the physical network could be PCI, LIN, K LINE, CAN BUS, CAN FD, EITHERNET, MOST, FIBRE OPTIC etc. Using thousands to possibly millions of lines of coding to instruct these modules to perform a great many tasks in a automobile.
To take this a step further these ecu’s along with actuators. They are controlling or the data they are monitoring are broken down into systems. In the earlier years there was the engine control unit but in most vehicles today their is the Powertrain, Antilock Brake, Drivetrain, Suspension, and HVAC Systems. Now within those 5 systems can be numerous modules with various task they are responsible for accomplishing. It is during this natural progression from mechanical control systems to electronic controlled systems. A new title was birth to define a more progressive role in automotive industry. Which entails a different level of disciplined study. Certifications and employment along with a high caliber tools to diagnose more complex customer concerns.
The Difference, Lets Examine it
Consider this as a question, what is the difference between a nurse practitioner and a doctor? Both are in the medical field and both require training. The obvious is one requires more extensive training than the other and a different level of certifications combine with clinicals of course. Now lets take this and frame it with the difference between a Automotive mechanic and Automotive technician. Both are in the automotive field and both do require training. The Automotive Technician in the United States typically has a some form of Original Equipment Manufacture (OEM) certifications, trade school or college degree. Hours upon hours of classroom and hands on training that is continuous with their chosen field/ OEM and some choose to become specialist. Who focus on Powertrain, Electrical, Chassis to name a few with some overlap between these areas.
As mention earlier with the evolution from mechanical to electronic controlled systems a birth in diagnostic technology took place too. Which means people had to be trained on how to properly interpret and apply the data being gather from different diagnostic software and tools.
The OG (original)
An Automotive Mechanic has years of training too but typically speaking their training did not begin in a classroom or lab environment. These guy were getting hands on experience and training from day 1 with with their mentor. Their hands on experience and how they chose to pursue more training or not is all on them. In often cases a Automotive Mechanic will steer clear of anything that is electronic/software related. Their work is more hands on involved in the repair of mechanical components on vehicles. This is not to say someone who consider themselves a mechanic is incapable of performing complex diagnostics. Its just more so a rule of thumb and observation from my many years as a Automotive Technician.
Even the type of customer concerns a Automotive Mechanic and Technician deal with are quite different. “Customer concern is vehicle pulls to the right while driving constantly and upon applying brakes their is a pulsation felt in steering wheel and vehicle pulls left” .
Automotive Technicians may see something along these lines. “Vehicle pulls to the right while driving constantly and upon applying brakes abs and reduce engine performance light flashes on instrument cluster as vehicle becomes hard to steer.”
Which would require the use of a scan tool/diagnostic equipment at some point to solve this electrical issues by extracting live or stored data. Along with viewing and interpreting electrical waveforms possibly to gain insight on circuit and electrical components performance status that is not physically visible. Even checking software and firmware status on different control modules is apart of the diagnostic procedures that can lead to reprogramming ecu’s before any mechanical repairs are needed.
The Wrap up
To some people the terms are interchangeable as potato patahto and it could be that way because the user of these words are from a older different generation or region in the world. Others may disagree and say hey Automotive Technicians have a higher skill set and they are expected to do and know more than their mechanic counter parts.
As the industry has change become more driven by sensors, Ecu’s data bus networks automation driver assist systems etc. The roll of the mechanic and the expectations they must meet was a inevitable evolution. This trend flows into the tools and specialized training employed by mechanics and Automotive Technicians alike. Generally speaking Automotive Technicians today do require more in-depth hands on and degree oriented training on new emerging technologies. So they can analyze the data they have gathered to fix a customer’s concern.
Others may simply do not care and their attitude is just to make sure they compensated accordingly.
So which one are? A potato or potato, mechanic or technician?
If you liked this article here is more interesting information to ponder on https://www.embitel.com/blog/embedded-blog/automotive-control-units-development-innovations-mechanical-to-electronics