Volkswagen crack down on tuning

[Ground_Level]

Hey

just wanted to know if anyone else has heard Volkswagen Australia is now able to check if you have flashed your ecu now even if you bring it back to stock.

any more info would be helpful on if it's safe for warranty issues later on down the track that the tuner companies will some how be able to by pass this once again

[Umai Naa!!]

Has been the case since around the time the Mk7 came out.

[Ground_Level]

Yeah but now volkswagen scanner can now detect this change and automatically sends vin number to head office for it to void the engine warranty as apparently alot of v6 amaroks and tiguans turbos have been failing along side golfs 4wd systems units. This new software has only come about in the last 2 months as a head service guy i know told me.

[tigger73]

Some tuners claim their tunes are not detectable. This may be true at the present point in time, however all that needs to happen is for VW to modify their detection methods and what was once an undetectable tune will then be flagged up.

So therein lies the problem. You can’t predict what is going to happen in the future.

What you can do is choose a reputable tuning brand that will go into bat for their customers should anything go wrong.


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[h100vw]

Seen plenty of failed haldex's on std cars. Have had to turn away a good handful of 7Rs and S3s, some took a couple of trips to the dealer to be sorted under warranty prior to tuning.

[Umai Naa!!]

Yeah but now volkswagen scanner can now detect this change and automatically sends vin number to head office for it to void the engine warranty as apparently alot of v6 amaroks and tiguans turbos have been failing along side golfs 4wd systems units. This new software has only come about in the last 2 months as a head service guy i know told me.

It's definitely not a new thing.

Current era of ECUs used, shows in VW's diagnostic software how often it's been flashed, and whether the current version is correct for the car.

Hence why everything started off with piggy-back modules on the Mk7s, before the knowledge base caught up.

The thing about being undetectable, is knowing what the ODIS software is looking for, and what it sends back to Germany, before you can figure out what to hide or mask.

[Ozsko]

Yeah but now volkswagen scanner can now detect this change and automatically sends vin number to head office for it to void the engine warranty as apparently alot of v6 amaroks and tiguans turbos have been failing along side golfs 4wd systems units. This new software has only come about in the last 2 months as a head service guy i know told me.

That confirms what I was told and mentioned in the other thread. Someone mentioned there it was not the case and VW could not detect it but I now suspect he is wrong with your additional information.

[kamold]

Given the sophistication of current ECUs I would suspect that it would be pretty easy for a manufacturer to implement code that is designed to detect circumstances where an intercept type tuning box is artificially manipulating sensor values.

I mean dieselgate proves that using only existing sensors and parameters they can detect when a car is in a static test environment so how hard would it be to detect a possible tuning box?

It's obviously trivial to detect an updated ecu map applied via a flash unless it has been masked by generating a suitable byte pattern that results in the correct CRC that is produced by the stock ecu image.
As always, it's an arms race between manufacturers and tuners.

To me a tuning friendly manufacturer is a good thing as it helps to foster an aftermarket and enthusiast community which will always be your strongest supporters but I can see where they are coming from in wanting to protect their IP and also being able to detect when a modification may have caused a premature component failure so as to deny warranty claims that may be outside of the scope of what is manufacturer specifications....

Just my 2c

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[Ozsko]

Looking at the morality of running a tuning box etc if you then remove it in order to claim a warranty problem it is dishonest to say the least and probably fraudulent and could be pursued if a manufacturer were so inclined. I saw one case which very nearly finished up in court because of similar circumstances but the manufacturer backed off, the customer had clearly tried to rip off the warranty system when he knew that he had caused the damage.

[Ground_Level]

It was a meeting held with high end techs to inform them of this new development. Which happened about 2 months ago at sydney .Yes its been around since mk7 but this is now even if you go in for a general service once they plug the scanning tool in which they do every service boom gone. I mean there is ways around it you just dont get your car serviced by local dealer. And as a friend of mine said if its a brand new car you really are only going to see them 3 times in the whole time you are under warranty anyways so the choice is yours. To risk it to get the biscuit.

[Ozsko]

So they have effectively taken any chance of tuning being ignored at a local level, that might put a downer on the tuning industry apart from the few who accept the risk.

[Tobes_WIR35]

I'd be curious to hear what the dealer service departments think about all this. Basically I will just get my car serviced at a private VW specialist mechanic. So the dealers lose business. Probably not a huge amount though I guess.

[Ozsko]

I'd be curious to hear what the dealer service departments think about all this. Basically I will just get my car serviced at a private VW specialist mechanic. So the dealers lose business. Probably not a huge amount though I guess.

If the scenario is as it has been reported the dealers have no say in the matter, dealers of any brand do what they are told with little or no input into brand policy. The reason new showrooms get built for instance is that manufacturers get told to build them and not because they want to spend all that money. If you choose to service your car elsewhere because your car is modified and you can't lodge a warranty claim because of it they save money. In the time the warranty repair would have taken at just about cost price to the service dept they can get paid full retail dollars for those hours so it is in fact a win for them.

[Tobes_WIR35]

That hasn't been my experience. I had a few warranty issues with my GTI, including a blown engine. It was tuned and some minor engine bolt ons. My local VW dealer looked after me pretty well, didn't make any issue out of the mods, and even went in to bat for me to get the engine done for free (it was 6 months out of warranty). I suspect now if the reporting is automated back to HQ then they won't be able to use this sort of discretion with their loyal customers.

[Cruzin]

Could always go with an ABT tuning box, if your willing to pay big $$$ so that you have a 2 year warranty safety net.

The German ABT website states their 7.5 R tune is 294kw/500nm if you go with their down pipe as well - we will get less power due to our fuel quality I bet.