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Automotive vocabulary · Vehicle Electronics and ADAS

CAN bus

Meaning in automotive, with examples

nounCommon term

In automotive, CAN bus means: The main in-vehicle network that lets control units share data over a pair of twisted wires (CAN High and CAN Low). CAN stands for Controller Area Network.

In Turkish: CAN hattı, CAN veri yolu, CAN ağı

How it is used

Used by electrical engineers and diagnostic technicians. People talk about CAN messages, CAN traffic and communication faults (U-codes). A quick check: with the battery disconnected, the resistance between CAN High and CAN Low is normally about 60 ohms.

Example sentences

  1. Several modules lost communication, so we suspect a short on the CAN bus.

  2. The gateway module connects the powertrain CAN bus to the body network.

Common collocations

  • CAN bus communication
  • CAN High
  • CAN Low
  • CAN message
  • U-code
  • ECUShort for electronic control unit (or engine control unit): a small computer that reads sensors and controls actuators, for example injection timing in an engine. Modern cars have dozens of them.
  • wiring harnessA bundle of wires, connectors and terminals, wrapped and routed together, that carries power and signals between the electrical parts of a vehicle.
  • diagnostic trouble codeA standard code stored by a control unit when it detects a fault, such as P0300. The first letter shows the system: P for powertrain, B for body, C for chassis and U for network.
  • scan toolA handheld device or laptop software that connects to the vehicle's diagnostic port to read and clear fault codes, view live data and run tests on control units.

More terms: Vehicle Electronics and ADAS

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