Penny wise, pound foolish

For a long time, transport companies and truck owners have chiptuned their trucks to increase power and torque. With rising fuel prices they are also turning to chiptuning trucks to reduce fuel consumption.

“Initially the results may be promising, and the customer is probably happy,” says Johan Winther, Product Planning Director at Scania. “The truck may get more power and torque or the fuel consumption may be reduced. But increased power will lead to premature wear and expose the truck owner to the risk of severe engine damage and high repair costs.”

But that is perhaps not the worst effect.

“By altering the engine control system, the environmental certificates issued by Scania are no longer fulfilled,” says Hans Bedman, Head of Vehicle Quality at Scania. “You may have a more powerful truck or a truck with reduced fuel consumption, but you also have a truck that does not fulfil strict emissions legislation.”

Breaking several laws

In other words it will be an illegal truck – often without the driver or owner knowing it.

And that is part of the problem. As the immediate results are positive and measuring emissions after manipulating the engine control system is very difficult, the reasons for not chiptuning an engine may be hard to accept.

The engine development engineers at Scania are masters at balancing performance, durability, emissions and cost. And even if the engines look the same on the outside, they differ depending on the performance.

“The requirements on emissions, noise and economy has led to fine tuning of, for example, pistons and bearings,” says Bedman. “Power tuning a 430 hp engine to, say, 450 hp may be possible, but the pistons are not optimised for that. The result is premature wear.”

This is also true for the complete powertrain.

“Historically the engine was a separate component,” says Winther. “In modern trucks, the engine is a part of a complex system tightly connected with the gearbox, different control units and other sub-systems.”
Winther points to the bearings, which because of the stronger vibrations caused by increased performance, will also be affected.

Premature wear

Should the bearing not be optimised for an increased performance, the lifetime of the powertrain is shortened, he says. And as the warranties for a Scania engine are valid only if the engine control system is intact, chiptuning a truck may be a risky business associated with high costs.

Finally, should a chiptuning company claim to be approved by Scania – don’t believe it. That is never the case. 

The truths behind the promises

More power, more torque and reduced fuel consumption. It sounds impossible, but that’s what chiptuning companies promise. What they don’t tell you is that you destroy an already optimised engine – and our environment.

• “We can reduce your fuel consumption by 10 percent.”

• “We can increase the power and torque of your engine.”

• “Let us optimise your individual engine.”

These are all actual examples of promises from chiptuning companies. Let’s take a closer look at each “promise” and its consequences.

The “fuel reduction” promise
It is possible to reduce the fuel consumption, but less fuel to the engine means that more nitrogen oxides (NOx) and soot particles escape into the environment. So even if the fuel consumption is reduced – and hence also the CO2 emissions – the impact on the environment is actually worse.
Also, by increasing the NOx emissions, the vehicle no longer fulfils emissions legislation. Not only do you pollute more, you are basically driving an illegal truck.

The “increased power and torque” promise
The engine is not an isolated part of the vehicle. It is connected to the gearbox control system, temperature sensors and other systems. Making changes in one of the systems will have consequences on the others.
So changing the power and torque curve is possible, but it will dramatically reduce the service life of your truck. Another side effect is a distorted noise pattern. And a too-noisy truck is illegal.

The “individual engine control” promise
One of the last steps when producing a Scania engine is the engine test. This is where each engine is tested and optimised according to its individual characteristics. It is during the engine testing that emission levels, noise levels and other characteristics are checked.
So there is no need for yet another individual engine control system. It is already supplied by the company developing the engine – Scania.

Same copyright, same laws

Engine management software is a highly complex product that is governed by the same laws as music and literature. Copying the software is therefore a violation of copyright laws.

Scania’s engine management software is perhaps not as visible as Madonna’s music or books by authors like Doris Lessing or Dan Brown, but it is governed by the same copyright laws. Copying and altering the software in order to increase power or reduce fuel consumption is by definition a violation of such laws in most jurisdictions.

“Scania has exclusive rights to its intellectual property,” says Mikael Sundström, General Counsel at Scania. “And we have not granted any third party the licence – for its own economic gain – to copy, alter or exploit software controlling fuel injection or any other vital parts of our engines. The only licence we have granted is the implicit licence to our customers when they purchase a truck to use, service, maintain and eventually resell it.”

In many countries copyright infringement is also a crime.

Environmental issues

Another effect of altering the engine management software is that the environmental certificates issued by Scania will not be fulfilled.

“And any unauthorised manipulation of the software will invalidate the Scania warranties affected by the manipulation,” says Sundström. A manipulation gives Scania the right to deny any repair claim under warranty or under a contract, a fact that could be expensive should a need for repair arise.

“Scania has invested huge amounts of time and money in the engine management software,” says Sundström. “We may have to consider the possibility of taking legal action against the chiptuning companies that infringe on our intellectual property rights unless we can persuade truck owners to refrain from chiptuning their vehicles.”