Universal ECM

Please, point out the 'tongue in cheek" part, 'cause I missed it.

Indeed it is, and as stated in other replies, in essence all one needs to do is subscribe with credit card in hand. nothing "confidential" about it unless somehow one could equate being charged for software with being confidential.

For instance?

Well, there's in warranty coverage and then there's out of warranty coverage, how is this any way different than any other component on a vehicle?

"Bullshit" because it's not free forever?

I can appreciate a good speculation as much as anyone ...

How large a run would be necessary, though? As far as I know, most cars are okay with their stock computer from the time they leave the showroom floor until they make it to the junkyard. The only exception to this (in my admitted limited knowledge) are those who want added performance and cars with known computer issues (my 92 Eagle Talon comes to mind).

In the case of my Eagle, assuming they made a million of them ... that should keep production costs down (they're making a lot of them), but those cars (at least mine is) are now 13 years old. How much longer are people going to keep driving them?

If these computers offer less than optimal performance, even if the price is one half or one third of OEM, would people go for it? I don't know what an OEM computer costs, but it seems like people would be more willing to visit a junkyard than buy a new one with known less than optimal performance.

Being an electrical item, it wouldn't have a warranty period (people might have other problems or install them incorrectly, thus frying them before the car's ignition switch can be turned) but what if there is is a flaw in the design that isn't caught until 900,000 have been made and these sub par performance computers are linked to engine fires?

Don't get me wrong, I like the premise. I think it's a great idea for the consumer and there is money to be made. But ... spark plugs are pretty "simple" devices, but even they aren't universal. It seems like a spark plug would be a spark plug, but they aren't ... at least not for me. Putting anything other than NGK in Japanese vehicles has been nothing but a nightmare for me personally ... I can only imagine using a non stock computer.

I dont seem to catch your perspective on this.

I doubt, but don't know for sure, that each auto producer manufactures its own ECM devices. Assuming this is true, if an universal ECM were to be made by the OEM supplier which would work without any decrease in performance on a wide range of cars, then the production runs for new cars could be larger, stocking of various ECMs would require less inventory, etc. That was my hypothesis.

I am sure that GM or Jaguar dont want you to buy at NAPA for $75 what they choose to sell you for $600.

The major auto manufacturers often reserve certain items for their own use, and I suspect it is more from a profitability standpoint for its service centers than for any real confidentiality. Let's face it, there are aftermarket companies which offer a multitude of power and performance options which often require reprogramming the ECM software. The technology is no longer that high level.

Neither is the computing power required in such a device so very powerful. Computer chips decades old can handle this level of data management. It isn't rocket science. (The Patriot missles used in Iraq I were fitted with the old Z80 chips used in the Radio Shack computers of 30 years ago.)

So I feel that if the auto manufacturers went with some unified technology (as the OBD systems are headed) a lot of parts could be standardized, not just the ECMs. That won't likely ever happen.

My Reatta has four or five 'computers' in it. It is an exercise in exasperation sometimes. The manufacturers seem to believe, and maybe rightly so, that the American public buys into all the microprocessor hype. I'm not really one of them.

I'm in that field, the problem here is that once your production run gets past a certain size, a law of diminishing returns sets in and making the production run larger and larger does not continue to make the component prices cheaper and cheaper.

You might ask why isn't the a universal remote control for VCRs? Well there is, several companies sell all-in-one remotes that can be reprogrammed. So why don't the manufacturers use those instead of making their own remote controls for VCR's they sell?

The reason is very simple, the manufacturers of remotes and car computers make such a high volume that they are beyond the point where further cost savings based on increased volume can be had. Instead, the more general purpose the device is, the higher the complexity and thus at those production runs, the more expensive.

That I think is a different issue. I believe that all the automakers artifically overprice selected parts because they don't want people ordering those parts.

I think most times that an ECM is replaced, the problem was elsewhere. But it is an easy part to replace, and it's sufficiently "black boxish" enough that the shop is almost guarenteed the customer doesen't know what an ecm is and will believe anything about it. So if a customer comes in with an electrical issue like a loose contact, that is deeply buried in the car, replacing the ecm is easier and faster than finding the loose contact. So you get the customer out the door and they think you must have done something really fantastic.

Ted