A method for diagnosis of a vehicle includes monitoring a first plurality of distributed sensor signals input to a first control unit, monitoring a second plurality of distributed sensor signals input to a second control unit, determining a first diagnostic trouble code (first DTC) at a first instant of time, determining a second DTC at a second instant of time, storing a first dataset in a first storage media and storing the second DTC in the first dataset. The second instant of time is within a predetermined time of the first instant of time. The first dataset corresponds to the first instant in time, and the stored first dataset is transferred to a remote fault-diagnostic module at a later instant of time. The first dataset includes the first DTC, a predetermined first group of sensor signals associated with either the first or second control unit, and the second DTC.