Privacy

Device-local garage data

The current site does not require an IAR account. Your selected vehicle, garage vehicles, mileage, garage notes, maintenance records, saved AI diagnostic plans, resumable guided diagnostic sessions and their selected observations, local guided-case notes/resolution status, per-check completion/result notes, theme preference, and bookmarks are stored in your browser on your device. Clearing browser data can remove them.

Garage backups

When you choose Export backup, your browser creates a JSON file containing local vehicles, notes, maintenance records, saved AI diagnostic plans and workshop check results, guided diagnostic sessions with local case notes/resolution status, bounded diagnostic-test evidence, bookmarks, and the selected vehicle. IAR does not upload that backup. Import reads a file you choose, validates its structure and limits, then merges valid entries into this browser.

Searches and optional local quality feedback

Normal IAR search terms are used to find matching IAR content. IAR does not build an advertising profile or passively create an IAR search-history profile.

If you explicitly rate a search or save it as missing coverage, IAR stores a bounded feedback record in this browser containing the search text, your rating, result count/types, optional note, and timestamp. It does not attach your garage, selected vehicle, VIN, maintenance history, or other hidden context. You can export these local records as JSON or clear them from the search page.

Google Analytics measurement

IAR uses Google Analytics 4 to understand broad site usage, such as page visits and general traffic patterns, so we can improve navigation and prioritize useful repair coverage. Google Analytics may use cookies or similar browser identifiers and may process technical information such as your approximate location, device, browser, and referring page. IAR does not send diagnostic question text, garage notes, VINs, maintenance records, or saved test evidence as Google Analytics event data, and IAR does not use this measurement for advertising profiles.

Before a page view is sent, IAR removes URL query strings and fragments from the analytics page location and referrer. This keeps free-form search text, selected vehicle context, and assistant handoff parameters out of those measurement URLs. IAR does not add custom analytics events for search questions, AI prompts, garage records, or repair-test evidence.

Google processes this information under its own terms and privacy policy. You can limit cookies through your browser settings or use Google’s available opt-out controls. Disabling analytics does not prevent you from using IAR’s repair, diagnostic, search, or garage features.

NHTSA vehicle model and VIN tools

For 1996-and-newer model suggestions, IAR sends only the selected model year and make to its server-side NHTSA vPIC gateway. VIN decoding is optional and uses a same-origin POST request so the VIN is not placed in the IAR request URL. The server forwards the VIN to NHTSA vPIC for decoding and returns a no-store response.

The VIN decoder never stores the VIN. If you choose “Use decoded context in My Garage,” IAR saves only bounded decoded year/make/model identity plus any populated engine, trim, transmission, and drivetrain context, together with NHTSA provenance markers and timestamps; the VIN itself is discarded. If that saved vehicle is later selected for the diagnostic assistant, those bounded decoded fields may be included as vehicle context, but the VIN is never included. IAR labels manufacturer-reported configuration context separately and does not treat it as repair applicability. NHTSA receives the VIN because VIN decoding is the service you explicitly requested; NHTSA has its own privacy and logging practices.

Optional AI Diagnostic Assistant

The AI assistant is optional. When you submit a diagnostic question, IAR sends the question, the vehicle fields shown in the assistant, any diagnostic details you chose to enter, limited recent assistant conversation context, bounded excerpts from matching source-backed IAR records, and navigation metadata for relevant IAR topics through IAR's server to the configured Google Gemini API so it can generate a response.

Garage notes, bookmarks, maintenance history, saved guided diagnostic sessions, guided-case notes/resolutions, saved workshop check completion/result notes, personal diagnostic-test evidence, and backup files are not automatically sent to Gemini. A guided path is sent to Gemini only when you explicitly choose the tree’s “Ask IAR AI using this path” link. The selected vehicle is limited to year, make, model, engine, trim, transmission, and drivetrain. Mileage is included only when it appears in the assistant's diagnostic fields and you submit the request.

Before calling Gemini, IAR may first offer up to three optional fixed-choice diagnostic questions when your submitted symptom is missing high-value observations. Those questions and answer choices are selected locally by deterministic IAR code, not generated by Gemini. If you answer them, the selected observations are added to the diagnostic conditions you submit; if you skip them, they are not added. IAR also extracts a bounded set of literal operating-condition cues from the diagnostic text and fixed-choice observations you submit, such as road-speed/RPM references, braking or steering-load conditions, temperature/startup language, warning indicators, and OBD codes. Those cues are used only to preserve evidence and improve local route matching; they are not stored as a separate tracking profile and are not treated as proof of a failed part. The Gemini response may include a bounded structured summary of the symptom evidence you submitted. Any guided diagnostic route shown beside that answer is selected by IAR from its registered deterministic tree catalog after a direct local diagnostic match; Gemini is not trusted to create that route. The Gemini API key is a server-side site secret. It is not stored in your browser or included in an assistant response. AI processing is separate from IAR's verified editorial content, and you should avoid entering unrelated personal or sensitive information into a diagnostic question.

Hosting and access

The hosting platform may process ordinary technical request information needed to deliver and secure the site. IAR's AI endpoint also uses limited request information for basic abuse protection; it is not used to build an advertising profile.

External sources

IAR links to resources such as SAE International, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and NHTSA. Their sites have their own privacy practices. Opening an external link leaves IAR.

Future changes

If accounts, synced garages, uploads, community submissions, additional analytics, or other external services are added later, this policy should be updated before those features collect or transmit new categories of data.