"Chip tuning"?

There is. If you had no regard for emissions or driveability, you could build a circuit that lied to your ECU claiming that the ICE was warmed up when it wasn't. This would, under certain conditions, increase fuel economy, until the car warmed up fully.

Thankfully many folks who buy a Prius actually want the good emissions, so it is not common.

 

My last motorcycle had freeware that along with a laptop and special cable anyone could use the software interface to change numerous operating parameters such as: redline, idle speed, fan temp, fuel tables (enrichen or lean), etc. You then saved the custom file and flashed it to the ECU. You really want to start with a program that was developed by a tuner with a dyno and a gas analyzer.

 

Catalytic converter doesn't work until it's hot... So cold engine fuel is mixed differently and a greater load is put on electric motors, which depletes batteries which requires more gas going to power motors, as well as recharge.

 

Catalytic converter doesn't work until it's hot... So fuel mixture is different and more emphasis is placed on electric motor when engine is cold. This requires more gas for electric power and more gas for battery recharge.

 

Correct. The cat is not warmed up, but the circuit lies to the ECU claiming it is. The ECU focuses on Emissions when cold and on Mileage once warmed up. Short term MPG improvement, at the long term cost of Cat replacement. Makes very little sense, but you will read many 'mods' and 'tips' that make no sense.

(I can take a 5 mile longer route home that improves my MPG, even though I use more gasoline. It makes no sense unless achieving high MPG has become an end unto itself)

 

Chip Tuning has been the frontlines in the battle of open-source computer code vs. proprietary computer code...

Back in the day when the ECU was the only chip that needed tuning it wasn't too confusing. Companies like Honda, BMW and Subaru even made it possible for people to buy replacement racing chips that gave computer access.

But for the most part the source code has always been locked down and DIYers have spent decades trying to figure out how to access the code, translate the code, change the codes. Forums like the one we're on right now have been vital in this process.

There's a long history of auto makers resisting DIY enthusiasm and keeping their computer code secret. And the reason we have an OBDII port in every car since the late 1990's is because in 1991 California Air Resources Board (CARB) forced the issue and required it. The feds soon followed by making it a national law.

Because of that today we have DTC readers, Scan Gauge, Ultra Gauge, CAN, Torque app, DashDaq, PriiDash. Many have also installed vacuum gauges, tachometers, volt meters, multi-testers, all kinds of stuff. It's the tools we use to improve the car's operation, which is the same as chip tuning.

Problem is with all these tools we still really can't rewrite the code to suit our needs? So as Jimbo points out above we have to resort to changing the signals the computer reads in order to trick the computer into reacting differently. It's a really limited way to advance Prius technology and we deserve better than that!

Future Prius' need to be more like the DIY programmable motorcycle that Fotomoto mentioned above. The google car, if used the way Android is used, will have elements to it that will be open sourced as well. For now though the auto-makers have the upper hand in keeping our car's code locked down with no access. We need to get these caveman attitudes to change. It's stiffling innovation in huge ways!

 

A delightful and relatively long story about fooling a Prius to accept a Turbo is perhaps the greatest epic saga of Prius "Chip Tuning" AutoSpeed - The Story of Turbo'ing a Hybrid Prius, Part 1

 

This reminds me of a number of automotive forums with members asking: "why didn't they do....?"

The short answer is we usually can't 2nd-guess the engineers - the mods most of us suggest would not be sustainable, safe, or legal. They might not work as intended.

The classic example is the 3rd-party PHEV conversions - a stock Prius until a year ago (PHV?), was not designed for extended EV driving.

It's just harder to make mods that will work due to the complexity of today's cars.

 

Glad you enjoyed reading the story... It's so long I'd say 99% of people wouldn't of read the whole thing...

As for my 07 Prius I've only had it for 7 months & still haven't made peace with the amazing lack of space compared to my old 92 Subaru wagon. One encouraging thing I've found is that if you remove the back seat backs and the center console from between the front seats and then move the front seats all the way forward and recline them down flat you can actually perfectly fit a full-size futon mattress in it. Catch is the front seat backs are arched and higher on the sides so I need to build a custom mattress with slots for the sides of the front seats so the mattress is perfectly flat. Still trying to figure out what kind of foam is least toxic for that though...

Back in the early 1990's I ran a shop that converted VW Vanagons into campers. The boss would by the vans brand new for $12k and I'd add poptops, cabinets, second battery, inverters, voltage regulator, propane stove, fridgerators, sunroof, curtains, etc. Not sure how much of this I'll be doing on the 'o7 Prius because it's so small... Maybe once I upgrade to a Prius V?

 

Is it the complexity of modern cars or just a lack of standardization and too much patent-proprietary-profiting-exclusivity? OBDII was a standard the industry was forced into... Likewise when inventors started adding batteries and converting Prius to plugins Toyota had no choice but to eliminate that competition by introducing a far better plugin... Thus, the more priuschat-types can hack Toyota cars/code, the more they we can push Toyota to advance what's possible sooner than later. Maybe crowd source/open source is the future of cars?

 

How many hours of quality control testing go into the Prius software? How would you feel if a bug in your modified car software killed your family? Or someoneelse's family?

It would be nice to get some control over variables in the car's software (which have been tested for all possible values), I will leave modifying actual code to people with huge QC departments.

 

I don't buy your "father knows best" philosophy.

These days crowdsourcing the quality control part of software development is not only less expensive but 100 times more thorough than engineers checking their own code. That's why real software developers do beta-testing, which of course is thus far unheard of in the auto world.

Imagine if Toyota released to the PriusChat community new firmware with greater user controls for beta testing. That's not something that will make the car more dangerous, it's something that will likely make the car more safe. And geeks who have grown bored with their Prius would have renewed faith.

The crux of the issue is this: The more Toyota and PriusChat can work together to innovate the Prius of the future the faster we'll get there.

 

People have already forgotten the paranoia a couple of years ago about "unintended acceleration" and assuming Toyota was negligent.

 

Where are they going to be doing this beta testing? How many crowdsource volunteers own their own test tracks? If you think QC is 'engineers checking their own code' I don't wonder that you think you can do better. It isn't. Of course, car companies don't do beta testing (testing by users); they aren't insane.

We aren't talking about some linux box here. We are talking about a ton of lethal weapon, which under the best of circumstances, accounts for 2% of all deaths worldwide.

 

Yup. One is invited to imagine what would have happened if NHTSA and Toyota found out that the car in question was running hacked code...

 

LOL!!! The though of driving a Linux car is indeed terrifying.

But fine tuning the existing OS in a car isn't dangerous if the people doing the hacking know what they're doing. There are many underutilized engineers on Prius Chat who know what they're doing and the lack of engagement between them and Toyota stifles innovation!

Long ago people expressed the fears you raise regarding after-market cruise control systems. But now no one thinks twice about safety issues related to cruise control and most all cars are expected to include this option in all models.

And yes safety is central to it all...

I submit that the more input from experts you have the more refined and reliable/safe the product becomes. Thus, crowd sourcing Prius code innovations would likely make cars more safe rather than less safe.

For example Google has logged 300,000 miles on their self-driving Prius without any significant errors caused by those cars. And imagine Toyota's concerns when they found out Google was using the Prius as their test car? Imagine the conversations they've had about Google's intent to blast a hole in the walled garden of proprietary closed-source automotive software?

I wouldn't be surprised if a decade from now our car OS will be running on Android because it's more reliable and flexible than what OS car makers offer.

Google is putting hundreds of millions into open-sourcing car code in a way that will most likely significantly reduce car accidents, as well as reduce the need for our half-blind grandma to have to worry about driving at all. To suggest that experts hacking car code will create more accidents is fear-based, irrational, unfounded.

 

None of this is even close to sufficient for hardware and firmware testing and quality control.