Hack Your Car

gurps_npc writes "The New York Times has this story about hacking your car's chip. You can get significant horse power and torque boosts (+18 horsepower and +70 foot pounds of torque in the given example), as well as improve (or decrease) fuel efficency. The car companies do not like (surprise surprise) people personalizing their vehicle's programming and warn of burning out your engine with bad code, and voiding your warranty."

Comments

It ISN'T for the smoke...

[argoff]

While they have some effect on the environment, the simple fact is emissions standards are promoted far more to drive used cars out of the marketplace than to protect the environment.

And also, I wouldn't worry about voiding the warranty. They often design those chip boards with very special capacitors, the kind that are likely to burn out after 5 years when the payments run out anyhow. Funny thing is that if you know what you're doing you can switch it out for $5, but if not you gotta pony up $600 mininum for a new board from the factory.

Re:Magnusson Moss Warranty Act

[Alan Partridge]

CONGRATULATIONS!

You've just won February's spelling & grammar prize!

Re:Magnusson Moss Warranty Act

[Paul Jakma]

Our weather finds that in the Spring, Summer and Fall I am subject to having the temperature in my car reach 80 Deg C in the mid day. Opening the windows finds the exterior temperature reaching between 35 and 40 Deg C.

Strange... I've been in spain a good few times, similar temperatures to the above, if not hotter, yet most people seem to do fine without A/C in their cars there. :)