APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PREVENTING MALFUNCTION OF VEHICLE ENGINE

A technique capable of preventing unintended vehicle starting due to a breakdown includes a vehicle engine malfunction preventing apparatus includes a memory configured to store a pre-selected failure variable list and a diagnostic release variable list, and a processor configured to diagnose whether a vehicle engine is malfunctioning based on the failure variable list. The processor is configured to obtain first vehicle status information corresponding to a failure variable based on the failure variable list, diagnose the vehicle engine as a malfunction to turn off the vehicle engine when the obtained first vehicle status information satisfies a preset diagnostic condition, obtain second vehicle status information corresponding to a diagnostic release variable based on the diagnostic release variable list, and diagnose the vehicle engine as a normal operation to allow the vehicle engine to start when the second vehicle status information satisfies a preset diagnostic release condition.