Can A Remapped Car be Detected?
Can you detect if a car has been remapped? Let’s find out.
For anyone who wants to enhance the performance of their car and potentially increase fuel efficiency, they might want to consider having their car remapped. This is a cost-effective way of improving the way in which your car performs without having to spend money on a new car that meets your needs. In this article, our Surrey Tuning team are going to cover what is remapping is and whether it is possible for car dealerships and garages to detect it.
What is Engine Remapping
While you might know that remapping can help to improve the power of your car and potentially, the fuel efficiency, do you know what it involves?
When your car comes directly from the factory, the engine would have been set up in a way that means that it doesn’t actually maximise its potential.
This is because the ECU, which is the onboard computer, has been tuned so that it limits the performance of the engine to enhance emissions, fuel consumption and reliability.
Furthermore, the engine might be limited so that it is finely balanced to deliver the right fuel consumption and power to handle certain conditions such as hot weather.
So, when you have your engine remapped, it helps to use up the additional power that your engine is capable of delivering, so it essentially removes the restrictions that are placed on it.
How Does Engine Remapping Work?
When you have your car engine remapped, a specialist will alter the software that is stored on the ECU.
This is an easy method of tuning and is done by connecting your car to a laptop and it connects to the same plug that many garages use to diagnose any issues that you might have with your car.
So, if you have an older car, having it remapped might not matter so much, unless you want to sell it.
At this point, the buyer or the garage that you are selling it to might want to know if any modifications have been made to it.
Furthermore, if you have a lease vehicle, then you might also wonder whether remapping can be detected?
Is It Possible to Detect Remapping?
Essentially, it is possible to detect remapping but this does not mean that your car manufacturer will check for it when you take your vehicle in to have it serviced or MOT’d.
Our Surrey Remapping company can return your vehicle to stock before any warranty claim. Many people worry whether remapping will affect their warranty or their insurance but the reality is that remapping is not routinely checked for unless a request is made to do so.
Insurance companies won’t check your vehicle to see if it has been remapped before providing cover but it is your responsibility to inform your insurance company.
This is because if you have to make a claim and it is found that your car has been remapped, you might find that you no longer have cover.
When it comes to your warranty, if you have a vehicle that is covered by a warranty then the decision to have your car remapped is down to you.
If you want to enhance performance and risk having an invalid warranty then it can be done but if you try to get away with it, a manufacturer might be able to detect it, especially if you are having costly warranty work carried out on a regular basis.
This is because they might choose to carry out a thorough check on your vehicle which will include comparing manufacturer data within the ECU.
This latest hot trend in Remapping your car is not illegal because it involves using your engine in the way that it has been designed.
However, the responsibility falls to you because you will need to inform your insurance company or risk having any warranty voided, which could come at a cost to you.
But, if you are looking for more performance and are happy to take on that responsibility then your car will perform a lot better.