Ford has revealed it will work with companies in the aftermarket industry to increase the performance of the 2021 Bronco.
Like many other vehicles hitting the market, the new Bronco is fitted with a complex ECU that offers over-the-air updates and includes a plethora of hard-to-crack cybersecurity and encryption methods. An encrypted ECU is the reason why no tuner has been able to tweak the software of the Chevrolet C8 Corvette and the Bronco could prove to be just as tough to crack.
Fortunately, Ford knows that the new Bronco will open up an expansive world of aftermarket upgrades and will work with other companies to modify the off-roader’s available turbocharged engines.
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“We have to walk carefully there because a lot of the systems interface with each other and the aftermarket doesn’t always think about those interfaces,” Bronco program manager Jeff Seaman recently told Muscle Cars and Trucks. “We’re going to have to work with our strategic partners and make sure that they provide things to the customer that are certainly robust.”
When previously speaking about the process of tuning the 2021 Bronco, Ford’s head of Icons, Dave Pericak, said Ford has a SEMA agreement that will authorize third-party companies to make engine changes.
“There’s a SEMA agreement where we authorize third parties to make engine calibrations and updates,” he revealed. “I think this is definitely an opportunity to explore as we go forward. We’ve got the OTA architecture in place for the Bronco, but how that works with third-party developers vs doing it in house and internal updates is still something to see how it will work.”
