The new-generation Ford Mustang, also known as the S650 Mustang, attracted plenty of attention when it was revealed. As usual with performance-oriented vehicles, the attention of tuners is also present, but this generation will mark a dramatic shift in how tuning will happen – it is not going to be as easy as it used to be.
Currently, whenever a new vehicle with a dash of performance credentials pops up, tuners who want to bump up the horsepower figures need to gain access to its ECU.
In time, ECUs have evolved from electronic boards that controll the bare minimum in engine operation, to extremely complex computers that are hardwired into the Controller Area Network (or CAN, for short) of a vehicle.
Along the way, tuners have found themselves locked out of ECU by various automakers, and each new generation of ECU brought new bridges that needed to be crossed. Tuning enthusiasts first encountered the impossibility to connect to an ECU because there were no common communication protocols, but that changed with the adoption of OBDII, which became the industry standard.
Today, most factory ECUs can be rewritten by tuners, depending on the tools at hand, methodology, and skill of the employee who is in charge of the work.
While many cars can have their ECUs reflashed or remapped, as the tuning industry calls this, without dismantling them from the vehicle, others need an electronics specialist to open them up, bypass the factory restrictions, and then get work done.
In the case of the S650 Mustang, Ford officials claim that it will be much more difficult to do this kind of work. The biggest change is the implementation of the FNV electrical architecture, as Ford describes it, which is short for Fully-Networked Vehicle.
In other words, instead of having individual modules that work separately and only communicate when they are required to do so, Ford has chosen to encrypt those modules as a full stack, which means each of the modules cannot be rewritten, and that the others might shut down or limit their functionality when this is detected.
As the Chief Engineer of the new Mustang, Ed Krenz, told the folks over at MC&T, the change was made to prevent hacking, which is a risk that is faced by all the connected vehicles on public roads. It is unclear how the modules are locked from unauthorized accessx or what happens when someone tries to gain access to them.
The change is also “regulatory driven,” and it is linked with CAN message authentication, which means that not just anyone with a laptop, an OBDII plug, and software will be able to modify something on the Mustang S650s ECU. This may be a reason for the shift.
Instead, the Blue Oval will allow certain companies to access the ECU of the S650 Mustang, and the Mustang's chief engineer believes that there will be several tunes available both for the new 5.0-liter Coyote V8 and for the improved 2.3-liter EcoBoost unit.
The first package may come straight from Ford Performance, as the Mustang's chief engineer explained that there will be “Ford tunes, as well as non-Ford tunes." It will also mean that the Blue Oval will have the upper hand here, since no other company has access to the new Mustang, not to mention its new electrical architecture.
At this point, it is unclear which companies will be offered access to the systems of the S650 Mustang, but you can expect the traditional tuners of Ford models to be allowed, which include, but are not limited to, companies like Roush (and many more).
Most likely, the folks over at Mountune will receive access, since Ford has previously allowed their tuning packages to be installed without affecting the factory warranty.
Since Ford would not have gone through the trouble of developing an all-new electric architecture just for the S650 Mustang, the days of home brew tuning on your Blue Oval car may come to an end once the FNV becomes the norm for the Ford range.
It may take many years until that happens, but smaller workshops will get the biggest hits, as they will probably be priced out of the ballpark for the required tools and software just to ask for access from the company.
Now, it is important to note that, since the system is designed by humans, there must be a vulnerability somewhere, and there will be someone who will find that vulnerability. It is unclear when that will happen, and what it will take to crack the system, not to mention the risk-to-benefit ratio of messing with something as essential as this.
After all, if you try to crack it and fail, there is no information on what might happen to the modules if a security breach is detected. The biggest risk is bricking the vehicle, as some have had the unfortunate experience back in the early days of Android smartphones and DIY improvements, not to mention their equivalent in the automotive world.
In time, ECUs have evolved from electronic boards that controll the bare minimum in engine operation, to extremely complex computers that are hardwired into the Controller Area Network (or CAN, for short) of a vehicle.
Along the way, tuners have found themselves locked out of ECU by various automakers, and each new generation of ECU brought new bridges that needed to be crossed. Tuning enthusiasts first encountered the impossibility to connect to an ECU because there were no common communication protocols, but that changed with the adoption of OBDII, which became the industry standard.
Today, most factory ECUs can be rewritten by tuners, depending on the tools at hand, methodology, and skill of the employee who is in charge of the work.
In the case of the S650 Mustang, Ford officials claim that it will be much more difficult to do this kind of work. The biggest change is the implementation of the FNV electrical architecture, as Ford describes it, which is short for Fully-Networked Vehicle.
In other words, instead of having individual modules that work separately and only communicate when they are required to do so, Ford has chosen to encrypt those modules as a full stack, which means each of the modules cannot be rewritten, and that the others might shut down or limit their functionality when this is detected.
As the Chief Engineer of the new Mustang, Ed Krenz, told the folks over at MC&T, the change was made to prevent hacking, which is a risk that is faced by all the connected vehicles on public roads. It is unclear how the modules are locked from unauthorized accessx or what happens when someone tries to gain access to them.
Instead, the Blue Oval will allow certain companies to access the ECU of the S650 Mustang, and the Mustang's chief engineer believes that there will be several tunes available both for the new 5.0-liter Coyote V8 and for the improved 2.3-liter EcoBoost unit.
The first package may come straight from Ford Performance, as the Mustang's chief engineer explained that there will be “Ford tunes, as well as non-Ford tunes." It will also mean that the Blue Oval will have the upper hand here, since no other company has access to the new Mustang, not to mention its new electrical architecture.
At this point, it is unclear which companies will be offered access to the systems of the S650 Mustang, but you can expect the traditional tuners of Ford models to be allowed, which include, but are not limited to, companies like Roush (and many more).
Since Ford would not have gone through the trouble of developing an all-new electric architecture just for the S650 Mustang, the days of home brew tuning on your Blue Oval car may come to an end once the FNV becomes the norm for the Ford range.
It may take many years until that happens, but smaller workshops will get the biggest hits, as they will probably be priced out of the ballpark for the required tools and software just to ask for access from the company.
Now, it is important to note that, since the system is designed by humans, there must be a vulnerability somewhere, and there will be someone who will find that vulnerability. It is unclear when that will happen, and what it will take to crack the system, not to mention the risk-to-benefit ratio of messing with something as essential as this.
After all, if you try to crack it and fail, there is no information on what might happen to the modules if a security breach is detected. The biggest risk is bricking the vehicle, as some have had the unfortunate experience back in the early days of Android smartphones and DIY improvements, not to mention their equivalent in the automotive world.