To tune or not to tune..

Not going to touch my 2020....don't want to screw it up. Truck runs way too good the way it came.

 

I have it...let me know what you think when you get it...

 

Easy enough to check with an inexpensive OBDII scanner that will read the calibration ID. I got mine on Amazon for $17.80 on Prime Day. It's $25 now but still cheap.

$25 MOTOPOWER MP69033 Car OBD2 Scanner Code Reader Engine Fault Scanner CAN Diagnostic Scan Tool for All OBD II Protocol Cars Since 1996, Yellow

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Z3HB7DR?ie=UTF8

You can then compare that to the TSB listing on @tonered's thread and see if the latest TSB is flashed.

 

Really doesn't matter anymore. His truck went bye bye to the nissan dealer.

 

Perhaps I'm missing something here but what would maps have to do with shifting manual transmissions.

 

That's interesting, but I would expect them to check when doing warranty related work on power and/or drive trains and not waste time on routine checks/services. But then it wouldn't be hard to have the diagnostic equipment spy on your setup, report it to Toyota, but say nothing to the service tech. As someone who works in the IT world, I know it's trivial to do things behind the scenes that you, the user, aren't aware of. Often referred to as Telemetrics.

Those of you who wonder how you end up with advertisements in your Windows start menus are seeing such activities.

 

There's no doubt the technology exists and is in use, but some manufacturers are much more aggressive about it than others. Toyota is nowhere near as aggressive about it as someone like BMW, who will hook up and flag a vehicle whose map falls outside certain parameters. It would be pointless, however, to go through the trouble of detecting that and not inform the service tech/dealer service department, who are the ones performing the warranty work.

While I can't speak for other tunes, a KDMax tune does not alter the ECU ID, so hooking it up to TechStream or an OBDII reader to check the ECU/Calibration ID would show a stock ID. You'd have to start digging into Calibration Verification Numbers (CVN) to tell the difference. If there is a concern then simply flash back to stock before going in for warranty service. That would return the CVN back to stock, then you'd have to start getting deep into the ECU and looking at checksums, etc. No one at a Toyota dealer is going to do that unless you're talking a pretty significant warranty claim and was directed to do so by Mom Toyota before approving the work. Is tuning 100% risk free as far as warranty work is concerned? No, but the odds are pretty slim. There have been recounted experiences of people having significant warranty claims with a tune without issue, and also of people passing the CA smog check, but as with all mods, YMMV.

 

Throttle input is different for each gear, so it makes it inconsistent.

 

I was thinking they wouldn't say anything until it's warranty work then they would hear from Toyota. It's not difficult to do digital signature hashes on the files though it could be a slow for the ECU's cpu to perform them. I do hash checks every time I download isos from the internet when possible. Pretty much all operating systems do that to their downloaded patches before installing too. What could drive Toyota, really all car companies, to start doing something like that would be if someone figured out how to use the diagnostic equipment or the cellphone modems in connected cars to flash a virus into the ECU. It would be an increasingly likely thing to happen with all these 3G, 4G, 5G connected cars. Infect the car's computer then have it "call" into a Command and Control server and receive instructions. I just don't know how hard it is to do that. Not really worth it to non-connected cars but the connected is another story. They get IP addresses too just like your smartphone does.

 

I'm no tech when it comes to this electronic computer stuff, but i've seen what a friend on mine was trained to do when it came to correcting the factory parameters in these big screen hdtv's we watch. He often had to go on service calls after the customer thought they knew more than the factory, that setup all the internal factory menu by getting the remote codes listed on the internet, but not having any clue what each function listed meant. They would really screw some tv's up. So basically my friend was able to access a list of factory menu pages that would correspond with the complaint issues happening for that model. Says sometimes it was like installing a new panel in these big screen tv's. I could see this as never being 100% again. He's even went so far to claim they had issues with some brands that were often programed off right from the manufacture, which they were never able to service as good as they are done robotically by the manufacture. If that can happen to these big screen tv's with some just looking way sharper than others, i could see the same for all these tacoma's. I wouldn't think it's impossible for some to be borderline that get by.

 

Does that mean that the same physical position of the gas (really air) peddle hold the butterfly more or less open depending on the gear or if not in gear?

 

Yes exactly. It’s really dumb actually. Even neutral has its own map. Why Toyota?

 

I have no doubt someone has bricked an ECU trying that same stuff and the ECU is likely a generic part across all of Toyota's line of vehicles. The real danger is if someone figures out how to take over the ECU and get it to do other things like perhaps use the electric power steering system (in cars with such a thing) to steer themselves or cause brakes to stop working or uncontrolled acceleration. The disabled brakes has been done by simply issuing a few instructions to a Ford (forget which one but there's a video for it) as well as the steering by using the parking assist feature in the very same Ford. Not saying the same would work in a Tacoma as it would depend on what can be actuated by the ECU but the accelerator and brakes very like are controlled by it. Wonder when virus protection is coming for cars.

 

You might be overthinking this, at least for the immediate future, or you've been watching too many of those die hard movies.

 

I could understand a rev limiter but not unique maps for each gear, no gear, and reverse. You sure they didn't just lazily copy the AT's mapping perhaps an early setup of it that never made it to production in the AT trucks?

That seems like a solution in search of a problem (that actually creates another problem or at least an annoyance).

Thanks, Junkhead. I learned something today.

 

In computer related security, it's not if you've been breached. It's do you know you've been breached. One day, cars will likely take their place in the been breached category just as end user desktops did before anti-virus software and signed software became the norm. I just hope I'm too old to go outside when that happens. Not die hard. Terminator 3. If our Tacomas use electric power steering instead of hydraulic, then they have all the underpinnings for self driving. Adaptive cruise control for acceleration/braking (tested that on my 2021 SR5. Yes, it applies the brakes by itself if it runs up on a quickly slowing car). Looks like it has the forward facing camera right next to the rear view mirror.

 

You are welcome!

Yeah your guess is as good as mine. Toyota does some strange things sometimes.

 

This is just about how my OTT tuner explained it to me. If a Calibration Specialist from Japan came in specifically looking for something...maybe there'd be some concern.

I've wondered about flashing back to OEM and the affects of introducing a tune. Can it be set back to OEM without recognition of the introduced tune?