Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC) Statuses

There are three possible statuses for DTCs. See below for more details:

Permanent DTC

Starting in 2009/2010, vehicles began storing certain emission-related DTCs as Permanent DTCs. Unlike non-permanent DTCs, Permanent DTCs cannot be cleared by conventional methods like disconnecting the battery or using a scan tool. Instead, these codes will only clear automatically once the module storing the DTC confirms that the underlying issue has been resolved.

Important Note:

It may take several drive cycles for a Permanent DTC to clear, even after the issue is fixed. If the issue is not resolved, the Permanent DTC will remain indefinitely.

Pending DTC

A Pending DTC indicates that a potential failure has been detected but requires additional key or drive cycles to confirm the fault. The system will monitor to see if the issue recurs before setting a full DTC.

Current DTC

A Current DTC is an active code and is the reason for the check engine light being illuminated.