Bolt2 - Can it interfere with the OBDII interface?
Written by Matthew Clark-Massera
Updated at January 25th, 2023
Some vehicle manufacturers may blame a peripheral device connected to the OBDII port (like the Bolt2) should any problem occur with the vehicles on-board computer.
The chance of the Bolt2 being responsible is remote.
The Bolt and Bolt2 only draw power from the OBDII port.
What this means is that even though there is the 16 pin OBDII connector, only 2 are actually connected to anything
battery positive
chassis ground
This generic OBDII pinout standard is below
On the Bolt only 4,5 (Ground) and 16 (Vehicle battery power) are used.
The Bolt isn't actually sending anything down the OBD port or over the signal lines whatsoever.
It's effectively sitting there passively - it's basically just connected to the battery, but via the OBDII port. So it's similar to having a device connected directly to the battery.
As such it is highly unlikely to cause any damage to other components.