Korea would make carmakers hand inspectors the security keys to EV diagnostics

South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on August 19 that it would put a draft amendment to the Enforcement Rule of the Motor Vehicle Management Act out for legislative notice, with a comment period running from August 20 to September 30.

The change with the widest reach concerns what manufacturers must disclose, and when. Today a manufacturer has to give the Korea Transportation Safety Authority the diagnostic information needed for periodic inspection within six months of a new car first going on sale. The draft moves that deadline to ten days before sales begin. The ministry said the current timing had left inspection stations without the information they needed when a manufacturer wound up its business after a launch.

The amendment also specifies, for the first time, what that information consists of. Manufacturers would have to provide free of charge the encryption source — the release names it as Security Access — that is essential to building the inspection tester, together with the core diagnostic items that reveal a battery’s condition, listing maximum and minimum cell voltage, state of health and state of charge. In UDS terms, Security Access is the challenge-response exchange that grants a tester access to the protected diagnostic functions.

Separately, the draft splits inspection criteria by drivetrain. Combustion vehicles would be assessed against 24 items covering the engine, fuel system and running and braking gear; electrified vehicles against 21, covering high-voltage electrical equipment and running and braking gear. A fourth change would fail any vehicle found with detached wheel nuts or bolts, requiring re-inspection within ten days of repair.

The full draft text becomes available on the ministry’s website on August 20.