Pedal Commander: does it work?

you got raped on the price of repair too.

 

I don't own a Pedal Commander, or plan to, but I'm not sure that's what fried the ECU.

Toyota has had gas pedal issues for years going back to the Prius. I did a quick search and couldn't find any other instances confirmed to be from the PC. I didn't search heavily, but I want more confirmation.

I did find this on their site:

 

Been reading through this thread, but can we put this in laymen terms? If I put this in my truck, will I accelerate faster?

Is this worth it for an automatic?

 

You know the feeling when you are midway thru a corner and you hit the gas, and it doesn't do anything for a second, and they accelerates? The PC gets rid of this. It accelerates as soon as you hit the gas. I turned mine off for 5 min to see if i still liked it. Yup, had to turn it back on.

It will not accelerate any faster stoplight to stoplight, but it WILL accelerate faster thru corners, or when you are on and off the throttle. Basically it makes daily driving MUCH more enjoyable.

 

Good enough for me, guess I'll buy one.

 

just be prepared to spend some time playing with the settings. everyone throttles differently and expects a different response and feel. there's lots of programs (throttle curves) to use. most won't be right for you but one or two probably will. i myself use Sport 1 or Sport 2 depending, usually Sport 1 is enough for me. Sport 2 tends to spin the rear tires from a stop, especially on a wet road.

 

No you will not accelerate any faster. It will take less pedal input to accelerate at the max.

 

So basically just makes it so you don't have to press all the way for it to technically be pressed all the way, making it pointless to press your pedal all the way down? I thought it added a "sports mode" type shifting, like new vehicles come with.

 

Yes that is exactly what it does. It does not change your shifting. Simply amplifies the pedal signal

 

that's a bit oversimplified but your answer is basically yes. this has nothing to do with shifting, or anything except the throttle signal. it only modulates the throttle's output signal, no other connections to anything. the ECU, trans, etc will never even know it's there.

 

Wow, for $300 that's all it does? I mean, for an automatic this is basically useless? Isn't there a chip or something you can buy that will give an option for a "sports mode" like modern cars have?

 

i have never recommended a Pedal Commander for an AT truck... i just have no idea how it does there. i have a MT.

yes that's all it does. and by the way, there's a code in the Pedal Commander does it work? thread that will get you $40 off. but for driveability i would prefer a proper real ECU tune, but that is not yet available. in the meantime the PC will do, and it does well, so no complaints at all. it's a good stopgap solution for me until a tune [hopefully] shows. Orange Virus (ovtuned.com) has said on TW that they are developing a real ECU tune and plan to release it by the end of the summer. nobody knows for sure, but that's what they posted here on TW in that thread.

 

Yup, sport 1 for me. sport 2 doesn't add anything really, just makes it very touchy and gets the tranny downshifting REALLY quick.

No, do not listen to gainman. It does more than that. It erases the thottle deadspot when you are at 10 - 50% pedal. It also eliminates the throttle lag. It makes the transmission downshift sooner / faster than without it.

If you drive a car with PC around an autocross course, it would be much faster than one without one. It accelerates sooner when you hit the throttle.

Also gainman, are you sure it doesn't open the throttle valve faster? Do you have any verification of that? from the feeling of my PC, it definitely opens the throttle faster. Do you have any basis to this?

 

It does make a big difference in the way a vehicle feels. It does not make it faster but it makes it easier to drive

 

But it accelerates faster, right?

 

That's what I thought... like take exact same vehicles, one with and one without. The one with is going to get to 60 first, right? Or peel out I guess?

 

Bottom line is it does not get rid of throttle lag, which is why I got it and then returned it. I can press the gas pedal all on my own, don't need the PC for that.

 

No it will not get to 60 any faster. Look right on the website the manufacturer says it themselves.

Yes I am sure. The feeling is placebo. The basis is that the motor that controls the butterfly is the same motor. If 100% throttle is 5v, the input to it will be 5v whether you have pc or not.

And no it does not remove the delay. The delay has nothing to do with electronics. The delay is the motor itself. Even with pc you are still limited by the speed of the motor.

You have to remember, 100% throttle is 100% throttle.

 

You must have not had the settings properly. Mine fully gets rid of lag.

Agree on the 0-60. No appreciable difference.

Sorry, not enough evidence from your side on the motor speed. With new electronic throttle, 100% is not 100%. The ECU slowly ups the voltage even if you hammer the throttle down. This device makes the ECU think you've hammered the throttle faster and will up the voltage faster making the TB open faster. You have to think more about this from the other side of grass.

Yes it does remove the delay. It is not the motor itself. Drive one with it on and off... it is a night and day difference. It really wakes it up.

 

I have driven it many times. Had on installed for 6 years. And yes 100% is 100% lol. You can push the pedal faster than the butterfly will open. So making the pedal even faster does nothing.