Method for predicting failures in vehicular components includes mounting sensors on the vehicle which provide data affected by the operation of the components, obtaining data from the sensors, detecting patterns in the obtained data on the vehicle, analyzing the detected patterns to predict failure of any component, and informing the user, owner, dealer and/or manufacturer of the vehicle about the predicted failure to enable preventative and corrective action to be taken. A vehicle with remote telematics capability includes sensors arranged to provide data about conditions of the vehicle or components, a processor for receiving data provided by the sensors and converting the data into an output constituting a signal about a diagnostic condition of the vehicle or component(s), and a communications unit arranged to transmit the signal. The communications unit can establish a communications channel with a dealer or manufacturer of the vehicle at a location remote from the vehicle.