Although odometry is nonlinear, it yields sufficiently to linearized analysis to produce a closed-form transition matrix and a symbolic general solution for both deterministic and stochastic error propagation. The implication is that vehicle odometry can be understood at a level of theoretical rigor that parallels the well-known Schuler oscillation of inertial navigation error propagation. Response to initial conditions is shown to be expressible in closed form and is path-independent. Response to input errors can be related to path functionals. The general linearized solution for stochastic error propagation for two typical cases of odometry is derived and applied to two example trajectories.