Many people believe that if reprogramming were a good and safe process, it would be done in-house, not by external companies. And it's common to hear: Why doesn't a car come with a factory remap ?
There are two main reasons why a vehicle may have lower engine power than it could have left the factory. They are: margin for future increases, and uses on different platforms.
With a brief history, we can explain the first two reasons: let's take as a basis knowledge about the launch of the Volvo FH500 truck in Brazil. Inside the factory, the engineers knew that the engine had been mechanically designed to support up to 1000hp. However, they were developing the FH500 – the “500” in the name refers to the power of this version, which was supposed to have 500 horsepower, and at the time it would have been the most powerful in the series.
But why would an engine with a capacity of 1000hp develop “only” 500hp?
The reason is that the engine should have a margin of future power increase, so as not to be necessary to develop a completely new engine to obtain a few more horsepower. Concrete proof of this was the launch of the Volvo FH540, with 40 hp more, but exactly the same engine and powertrain, just a few months after the launch of the FH500, as a competitor launched a truck with more than 500 hp in the same category.
Another example is the case of the BMW 320i 2.0T: 184CV and BMW 328i 2.0T: 245CV. Both have exactly the same engine, same gearbox, the mechanics are all the same. The only difference is the factory electronic injection map.
In conclusion, factories do this to open up the engine portfolio, they use the same engine in different applications and different powers to justify the price between versions. It is cheaper to make a single engine for 300 hp and offer it with 180 hp, 240 hp, and 290 hp. Cheaper to change the map than to design three different engines. That's why a car doesn't come with a factory remap.
To learn everything about electronic fuel injection reprogramming, we recommend reading this text: Electronic Fuel Injection – What is its function and how does it work ? Where we explain about Remapping.
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