Glossary
Automotive Service Technician Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential automotive service technician terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key automotive service technician vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in automotive service technician training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Caliper
- The brake component that squeezes pads against the rotor.
- Camber, caster and toe
- Wheel alignment angles that affect handling and tire wear.
- DTC
- Diagnostic trouble code: stored when a system detects a fault.
- Flat rate
- A pay system based on standard repair times rather than actual hours.
- Freeze frame
- Data captured at the moment a fault occurred.
- High-voltage system
- The battery and components in hybrids and EVs, identified by orange cables.
- Misfire
- Incomplete combustion in a cylinder.
- Multipoint inspection
- A standard checklist inspection performed during service.
- OBD-II
- On-board diagnostics standard on U.S. vehicles since 1996.
- Parasitic draw
- Electrical drain on the battery when the vehicle is off.
- Repair order (RO)
- The document describing the customer’s concern, diagnosis and repairs.
- Rotor
- The disc that brake pads clamp to stop the wheel.
- Scan tool
- A device that reads codes and live data from vehicle computers.
- Torque specification
- The manufacturer’s required tightness for a fastener.
- TPMS
- Tire pressure monitoring system.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Automotive Service Technician practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Automotive Service Technician training.
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