Mustang Chief Engineer Confirms Locked ECU, making S650 tune more difficult

[Bikeman315]

remote disable of ECU and also your brakes. Oh, you didn't want to die today in a fireball caused by a bored hacker somewhere on the planet? Detroit and car manuf in general are ABYSMAL (some might argue criminally imcompetent) at security and that's not going to change.

With OTA you get such features such as SHA256 not matching and a signal sent to the ECU to disable startup the next time it's stopped. How helpful, eh?

The thing to do here is to de-solder the communications chips or kill their power. But that too will be circumvented by radio checks on ignition that will simply refuse to start unless the radio gets an ACK from a central location. Now imagine you're in the middle of nowhere where even 2G coverage was poor to nonexistent - now you have a brick that needs to be towed to the nearest telecom tower.

All this stuff is in keeping with the WEF' goal of "you will own nothing and be happy about it. And if we decide you don't get to move about, that's just too damn bad, subject." There isn't ONE SCINTILLA of justification that is rooted in enabling the customer to OWN and OPERATE his vehicle in any manner as he chooses.

I just might keep my 19’ forever!

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[K4fxd]

I don't need my toaster hooked to the internet either, ......

 

[Bikeman315]

I don't need my toaster hooked to the internet either, ......

So my gas range has WiFi capability I say who the hell needs this? I'm sitting comfortably on my couch reading M7G and my wife calls to tell me to turn on the oven for dinner. I’m thinking hmmmmm.

 

[JWS]

They (Ford, or whomever, with a nod from the government) can Build it with a Poison Pill Embedded in the ECU/PCM/BCM that will check on the Status of your Software and Refuse to Enable Anything on your Car.

It will Void Your Warranty and also Classify Your Vehicle as Unable to Meet Minimum US Motor Vehicle Safety Standards or EPA Exhaust Levels. They could do this Now, but They’re just Slowly Turning Up the Heat while you’re in your Hot Tub.

 

[IPOGT]

Until the day comes when cars are not licensed, regulated and influenced by law, the association with politics is somewhat unavoidable.

 

[bryyce62]

So my gas range has WiFi capability I say who the hell needs this? I'm sitting comfortably on my couch reading M7G and my wife calls to tell me to turn on the oven for dinner. I’m thinking hmmmmm.

Your gas range can be remote started?

Nothing unsafe about that.....

 

[because_murica]

Your gas range can be remote started?

Nothing unsafe about that.....

It doubles as a remote fire place

 

[Biggus Dickus]

I hear you 100%. But what do you do with the genius’ that still use 12345 as a password? Sometimes we are our own worst enemies.

I'm much smarter than that - I use qwerty

 

[shogun32]

I'm much smarter than that - I use qwerty

for the first time in my life I did just that on a play laptop. Microcenter was selling 4core 4GB/64GB SSD educational laptops that someone ordered by the thousands - probably an Ohio school district. $59.99 (reguarly $130) for an 11" screen and rather decent keyboard. Comes with WIn10 Education license. I bought a fistful. Struggles a bit at times with Teams, 2 browsers with 8 tabs open, and Cygwin terminal. I use 3 virtual screens.

 

[RocketGuy3]

I'm not going to be the one to drag my S650 or run it on a road course. For me the stock 500ish HP Ford is putting in the Coyote will be plenty. I appreciate the idea that Ford may work with tuners in the future to allow other Mustang owners the capability to tune their cars, but this isn't something I worry about. This will definitely not deter me from being one of the first at my local dealer ordering my '24 Mustang Dark Horse.

I feel you, but I think you're missing a bit of both ends of the spectrum. I think even if you DO race your car, you don't necessarily need tons more power than stock these days. Incidentally, it was only after I started tracking my car that I stopped drooling over the idea of having a blown V8 with 9,000 whp. Modern 400+ HP cars are already pushing the limits of what I can comfortably enjoy on many tracks, and having much more is useless on the street.

And on the other end of the spectrum, some people just enjoy the game of modifying their car's performance even if they never use it in an at-the-limits environment, which I also kind of understand. Some people just like seeing what they can do with their car with a wrench or their wallet, and not with the steering wheel.

Anyway, I'm not sure what the point of my rant is since I'm not really either agreeing or disagreeing with your overarching point lol. Just wanted to get on my soapbox.

 

[4V Mayhem]

Long reply warning.

My thoughts are this. Nobody will be able to crack the ECUs. Especially now that they're all wifi and stuff. Sure there might be something where you have to accept the update. But most likely Ford will have it written into every agreement that if the ECU detects tampering then it will automatically reset itself. Or fry itself. Or shut the engine down. Who knows? Or they won't even put it in the agreement. It'll probably be that if it detects tampering then it will automatically reset to the last update that you approved or accepted. So there won't be any way around that. I could even see Ford toasting your warranty if the tampering happens or if it happens more than once. They have many options to make it not even worthwhile.

GM coded the C8s and they still have yet to crack it. BMWs are locked and those codes haven't been cracked. And most likely, even if someone was smart enough to do it, there could be many legal issues for tampering with emission controlled equipment from the manufacturer. Maybe even some sort of copyright infringement or penalties since companies are basically taking their product, altering it, and then selling it for a profit.

Speaking of profit, the manufacturers will probably start making and selling their own "aftermarket" tunes and products or upgrades for these cars. The aftermarket has been the source of a lot of revenue for a lot of companies for decades. So why wouldn't the manufacturer find a way to elbow in on this loot? Instead of buying a Mustang and throwing $10,000 at a performance shop for a blower and such, the manufacturer can just offer the same upgrades.

The way I see it is that the laws and rules aren't changing, it's just that now there is technology to enforce the laws and prevent people from breaking them or at the very least discourage people. And since these cars can communicate with companies and such, pretty soon your car will be able to rat you out if you're speeding or doing anything that it considers "aggressive driving" or even shut itself down or notify the cops and give them your location and address etc.

The world is different now and things are not ever going to be the same or go back.

 

[because_murica]

Long reply warning.

My thoughts are this. Nobody will be able to crack the ECUs. Especially now that they're all wifi and stuff. Sure there might be something where you have to accept the update. But most likely Ford will have it written into every agreement that if the ECU detects tampering then it will automatically reset itself. Or fry itself. Or shut the engine down. Who knows? Or they won't even put it in the agreement. It'll probably be that if it detects tampering then it will automatically reset to the last update that you approved or accepted. So there won't be any way around that. I could even see Ford toasting your warranty if the tampering happens or if it happens more than once. They have many options to make it not even worthwhile.

GM coded the C8s and they still have yet to crack it. BMWs are locked and those codes haven't been cracked. And most likely, even if someone was smart enough to do it, there could be many legal issues for tampering with emission controlled equipment from the manufacturer. Maybe even some sort of copyright infringement or penalties since companies are basically taking their product, altering it, and then selling it for a profit.

Speaking of profit, the manufacturers will probably start making and selling their own "aftermarket" tunes and products or upgrades for these cars. The aftermarket has been the source of a lot of revenue for a lot of companies for decades. So why wouldn't the manufacturer find a way to elbow in on this loot? Instead of buying a Mustang and throwing $10,000 at a performance shop for a blower and such, the manufacturer can just offer the same upgrades.

The way I see it is that the laws and rules aren't changing, it's just that now there is technology to enforce the laws and prevent people from breaking them or at the very least discourage people. And since these cars can communicate with companies and such, pretty soon your car will be able to rat you out if you're speeding or doing anything that it considers "aggressive driving" or even shut itself down or notify the cops and give them your location and address etc.

The world is different now and things are not ever going to be the same or go back.

BMW ECUs have been unlocked and so has the C8.

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2022/0...rst-company-to-natively-tune-c8-corvette-ecu/

https://www.supramkv.com/threads/un...022-ecu-with-visconti-tuning-and-femto.13266/

 

[Bikeman315]

BMW ECUs have been unlocked and so has the C8.

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2022/0...rst-company-to-natively-tune-c8-corvette-ecu/

https://www.supramkv.com/threads/un...022-ecu-with-visconti-tuning-and-femto.13266/

Regarding the C8 this article says that, as a power adder, unless your going to FI and/or doing a built engine the whole idea is relatively pointless. Now the same has been said about the Gen 3 engine unless you go to FI. That's why I do not get the uproar over the locked ECU. I know it's all about people doing what they want but it's not 1970 anymore. In this day and age of our cars basically being computers on wheels these type of lockdowns are to be expected. It's only going to get worse.

Unsurprisingly, the stock 6.2L LT2 V8 engine has almost no meat on the bone with regard to tuning. Trifecta attempted to squeeze more power out of the C8 Corvette Stingray’s stock motor by adjusting the air to fuel ratio, ignition timing advance, DI injection timing, DI rail pressure, and variable cam phasing angles, but saw no noticeable improvements. The good news, though, is that the LT2 V8 can still produce a lot more power with some upgrade parts.

“While we didn’t find power"

While increasing power output will require aftermarket parts, the company says it sees some room for improvement with regard to the C8 Corvette Stingray’s transmission behaviour and throttle response and may eventually offer a reflash that addresses these minor shortcomings.

 

[4V Mayhem]

BMW ECUs have been unlocked and so has the C8.

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2022/0...rst-company-to-natively-tune-c8-corvette-ecu/

https://www.supramkv.com/threads/un...022-ecu-with-visconti-tuning-and-femto.13266/

That's weird then. Because the only tunes people are using are piggy back devices. So I'm not sure of any of this. But like I said, there are many ways or the manufacturer to prevent or discourage people from actually tuning especially now that the ECU can basically report it to them and rat you out. Sure there are some who will still do it. But for most people it would be a deterrent.

 

[shogun32]

Unsurprisingly, the stock 6.2L LT2 V8 engine has almost no meat on the bone with regard to tuning.

MORE power isn't the issue, BEHAVIORAL POWER is what matters. The LT1 (camaro) revs like an arthiritic dog with a punctured lung. With Unleashed's tune the dog got ceramic joint-replacement and two healthy lungs. I didn't dyno so may not be a single more HP and I couldn't give a damn. But now it would actually pull and rev like it should have from day one.

Maybe GM cuffed the ears of their fuel-map engineers during LT2 development and improvements aren't there anymore but I doubt that's the case.

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