This. Chrysler has had their stuff on lock down for a couple of years now and I also heard that other manufacturers would follow suit in a short time frame. I wouldn't be surprised if FORD is making that change. Don't know if the government has anything to do with it.

Plenty of people are happy with their fords right off the showroom floor. We are the few who like to mess with stuff.

 

I have to wonder what a service manager at a franchise dealer really knows at this point. Given the relatively few details known about the car, and the fact that Ford has not finalized some significant stuff, it seems odd that a service manager would get the heads up on something like this already.

Also, there was an interview with one of the guys from Ford Racing, saying they were working on stuff for the car because they recognize the aftermarket is a big part of Mustang culture, etc. Seems to me Ford (though I know Ford racing is a division of Ford Motors, but acts separately for warranty purposes as I understand it) is not going to make this car untunable.

However, they may do what VAG did. Every time the car is taken in for service at a Volks/Audi dealership they VAG-COM it and flag it TD1 if it has an aftermarket tune on it. Then all warranty work has to be specially reviewed for that car after its been flagged. Also, as I understand it the new ECUs have a flash counter so that even if you put it back to stock, there is still a way to see its been messed with. Perhaps Ford will do this, so that the aftermarket can have their fun, without it being at Fords expense for Warranty work.

 

The current 2011+ cars already tell Ford if they've been tuned, even if tuned back to stock.

 

Wonder why there are not many 392 cars out there. I don't see any.

 

my buddy replaced his computer for an older one so he could tune his srt challenger after he put a supercharger on it.

 

Hit that one good and square, I'm a dealer technician. Ford suspected a lot of the early 5.0 engine failures were attributed to aftermarket tuning. Our scan tool can pull the engine calibration identifier which should show an aftermarket tune that is currently installed. There are deeper rooted tell tales that we don't have access to at the dealership, but you can bet, if you're sitting in court with Ford for a lemon law case, engineering has evaluated your car and already knows if you played with the programming.

This is nothing new, Ford hasn't locked down their PCM's as Chrysler has but that may change. Ford Racing does offer more aggressive tuning as well, it won't give you the gains an aftermarket one will, but there are tunes available for the Boss and now the Focus ST that I'm aware of, there should be more to follow.

to be honest, Ford does a really good job of wringing out safe power from these engines as-is. For each bank they're using wideband oxygen sensors and knock sensors to calculate ethanol content and octane level, these PCMs know what the safe torque limit is on the engine in order for it to last and that should be kept in mind.

 

Seems odd they would lock people out, now make it harder to erase digital finger prints I could certainly see since its a shady tactic for some to abuse a vehicle and attempt to return it to stock when things go bad to get abuse covered under the warranty.

 

I would have too disagree with just one part you posted. Ford leaves a good amount of power and far from wringing it out. My tuned 11 V6 is not even on the same level as a factory one. The shift points on factory settings are awful.

 

Aftermarket tuners aren't concerned with 100,000k+ reliability. Your paying for maximized performance

 

This is the point that I tried to end my post with that was apparently missed.
an aftermarket tune will tell you in the fine print you're on your own if something goes wrong, Fords calibration is something they will stand behind.

When you buy a new car you're paying for warranty coverage, why throw that coverage out the window for 10-20hp?

 

the aggressiveness on shifting can leave a little to be desired in terms of performance driving but these vehicles are engineered to be comfortable as well. I have a feeling shift strategy will be heavily dependent on what driving mode you select in the new mustang and should be a large improvement.

Edit: comfort and durability are two things we often take for granted in our hunt for performance.

 

A tune is not going to get you maximum performance the engine and transmission can handle. No reason why a car with a performance tune can't run 200k plus miles with proper maintainace..

 

If this is the case, I'm not too surprised. As stated, they will not be the first to go down that path... nor will they be the last. I also doubt that the 392 Challenger/Charger-sales is attributed to their locked-down ECU's. I think it has more to do with their cost... kind of pricey. I do not know why anyone would sell their 392's for an earlier SRT8 just because the earlier models were tunable. I very much doubt a tune to an earlier SRT8 would give you anything close to a 392's stock power output.

 

I wouldn't expect a car with a tune to nuke in short order but as the tune gets more aggressive and deviates farther from stock, components in the drivetrain are going to be stressed shortening their lives.

It doesn't have show up as a catastrophic failure like the #8 fiasco just small things down the road like maybe earlier replacement of the plugs, or cats, or maybe even a head gasket in the engine to bearings in the drive line.

Anyways not that I have a problem with aftermarket tunes or modifications ( obviously ) its just folly ( IMO ) to expect the same level of reliability as stock.

 

Well, you could be right. I wonder if some people on here been running tunes for 100k plus miles and whats the car like now. Any issues?

 

My big issue is retro fitting things. Like pulling an OEM nav out of a wrecker and putting it in my car. Or retro fitting Sync, or LCD cluster etc... . Seems like that is coming to an end as well.

When I got my 05, I couldn't afford all the goodies, but as time went on, I saved and got those components and put them in. As newer years came out, new options came that I retrofitted too. I put in Mycolour, ambient lighting, navigation, power seats, heated seats etc.

I've been doing this with my 2012, but is has certainly been trickier. 2015 and up sounds like it will be even harder. For example, I can see people wanting to get those middle dash mounted guages if their cars don't have them. Or retro fitting some of the cool electronics the higher cars will have.

I wish Ford would allow owners to upgrade.

 

I purchased a new supercharged Steeda GT in '01 that I tried to use as a daily driver and it sucked.

Regardless, I drove it for close to 10K miles before having it dyno tuned at ........... I started getting pretty significant spark knock about 40K miles later and had ........... dyno tune it. That tune lasted for around 15K miles before getting a bunch of spark knock, so I dumped the car at that point. Man, I wished I could've gotten 100K miles, but it was becoming a money pit. Granted, tuning a FI car is entirely different than a NA car, but I've learned my lesson and won't mess with a factory tune now.

Edited...to avoid throwing anyone under the bus at this point in time

 

I'm just guessing but I would imagine performance tuning has come a long way since 2001 which is 13 years ago. I have no reserve about my tuned 11 V6 lasting 200k with no major engine or transmission issues. As long as the tune is done correctly and not running lean, the engine and transmission will last.

 

^^ Yea dude, completely agree. I just had so many miserable experiences over a 7 year time frame. I was replacing injectors, MAF's, plugs, fuel pumps, the tank, then throw in the cost of dyno time. The car would run well for a little while... sometimes longer and just seem to lean itself out over time. Worst part was - I was just on a simple S-trim with 8 psi. It just ruined me on tuning, so I haven't messed with factory tunes since. I can definitely understand why people would want the ability to tune their cars, but from my experiences - I can see why the automakers would want to lock the factory tune/settings.

 

I find it hard to believe Ford would hold back information from aftermarket companies. After all , Ford was the first to provide their program parameters to the aftermarket companies. Ford new it was in the best interest of Ford Motor Company to have aftermarket companies who could improve performance by making programs that were compatible with Ford programming instead of using a program to work against the Ford computer programs. Ford was the first company to realize the aftermarket was good for them. I just do not see Ford back away from a good relationship with the aftermarket. As far as I know, Ford is the only company that completely shared their tuning information with the aftermarket. Chrysler never did share their information. General Motors may have shared some information with the aftermarket, but I do not how much.