Tuners hack into Ford Mustang ECU, paving way for modifications

The 2022 Ford Mustang generation (designation S650) comes with an encrypted electronic control unit (ECU), which basically means aftermarket shops can’t modify it. HP Tuners has just announced a successful decryption of this ECU, though, so it’s only a matter of time before we see wild Mustang projects cropping up.

The control unit known as the MG1CS036 is now open for third-party tweaks and modifications, HP Tuners claims. Earlier workarounds of the encryption went down two ways. You could replace the standard ECU with an aftermarket one at a risk of ruining the engine, and you could try to plug in an extra ECU alongside the OEM one for minimal gains. Neither of these two methods guaranteed stable operation under all conditions.

Now that the ECU has been cracked, Palm Beach Dyno tried to tune a Mustang. In the video seen here, they managed to extract an extra 30 horsepower and roughly 28 Nm (20 lb-ft) of torque from the mill, which isn’t too bad for a first test.

Once ready, these software tuning services should be available remotely – no need to haul your ‘Stang to the shop. All you will need is a sufficiently up-to-date device for communicating via the car’s OBDII protocol, like the MPV12.