ACC (Adaptive Cruise) Retrofit >> Underway, PSA

[ATL_Rubi]

I wonder how much, if any, of this locking vins, and difficulties is due to liability they foresee in allowing users to retrofit ACC. It's a shame that it is even a thought, but I'd be willing to be that is a large reason of the road blocks.

Sponsored

 

[CrazyCooter]

You guys are out of control........I love the tech, so keep it up!

I would like the ability to do my own ADAS calibration so its correct for changes to vehicle angle and height after suspension and tire changes. Seems the locals aren't interested especially if the vehicle is modified. I've asked AlfaOBD to look into that ability for us unless you have another solution I did see in the thread?

 

[Jimmy07]

Taking apart the acc module:

1. Remove the 4 outside screws and run a blade around the cover to cut through the silicon.
2. The cover comes off and exposes the radar antenna. Take those 4screws out and gently pry the board from the module. The backside has electronics, most likely fir the radar high frequency circuitry.
3. Remove the metal shielding cover, which exposes additional circuity and the 2 screws holding the camera in.
4. Remove the screws and the camera comes right out.
5. Now I’m stuck, still haven’t seen the eeprom. Suspect it behind this board. The board won’t come out because the connector on the backside of module is soldered directly to this board. I’ll need to get desoldering wick to continue….

It gets too blurry for me when I zoom in, but what’s this guy right here:

 

[rhill2901]

It’s the first photo. Here are all the possibilities I thought, but they don’t appear to be eeproms….

 

[Jimmy07]

I wonder how much, if any, of this locking vins, and difficulties is due to liability they foresee in allowing users to retrofit ACC. It's a shame that it is even a thought, but I'd be willing to be that is a large reason of the road blocks.

This is just my best guess:
I believe they VIN lock this particular module because if you source a used one, it “technically” doesn’t need to be calibrated, and the person who swaps it in will just run with it. Without knowing any of the specifics of the donor vehicle, you SHOULD get it re-calibrated regardless, for your particular vehicle’s ride height so it functions exactly the way it’s intended.

 

[rhill2901]

I don’t think it’s the liability, I think it’s more about lost revenue of selling a new part.

 

[Jimmy07]

It’s the first photo. Here are all the possibilities I thought, but they don’t appear to be eeproms….

That’s canbus c. It won’t be any of the identical ones. I’ll take one of mine apart and check it out. All the ones I have are for Ram, but I suspect the internals are identical.

 

[ecidiego]

Post better closeups of the gullwing IC's here:

 

[rhill2901]

Maybe????

 

[rhill2901]

 

[ecidiego]

The three prong things are just transistors.

 

[rhill2901]

It appears the only storage space in this module is inside the microcontroller. (the big 48 pin device in the above picture) Its labeled as F1816A, and datasheet is:

https://www.alldatasheet.com/view.jsp?Searchword=F1816A&sField=3

Microcontrollers are hard. Software can be written in them that prevents "changing" or code written to protected memory areas. There is an alternative, but it will be involved. Obtain the microcontroller that hasn't been programmed, read the existing one, make the vin changes and write it to the new microcontroller. Not that its impossible, but so much can go wrong... Unless someone has another idea....

 

[ParatusExpeditions]

I would check the datasheet to see if there is a protection bit feature or not. If there isn't one can write freely. If there is and one can read the storage, check that the protection bit is set or not. If it's set then it's pretty much cooked. If not, then write, see if the software behaves differently due to a checksum not matching what it wants or something for example, if there is a mismatch one can always write the old vin back to confirm the theory.

If there is a software protection in the microcontroller then it's a bit more involved as one would have to somehow dump the memory of the microcontroller itself if possible at all and do the same step to write a new matching checksum or completely disable to portion of the code that manages integrity checks. At this point, it's probably worth buying the new unit and what most hardware / software package s are placing their faith on.

Interested to see what you find though.

 

[Jimmy07]

It appears the only storage space in this module is inside the microcontroller. (the big 48 pin device in the above picture) Its labeled as F1816A, and datasheet is:

https://www.alldatasheet.com/view.jsp?Searchword=F1816A&sField=3

Microcontrollers are hard. Software can be written in them that prevents "changing" or code written to protected memory areas. There is an alternative, but it will be involved. Obtain the microcontroller that hasn't been programmed, read the existing one, make the vin changes and write it to the new microcontroller. Not that its impossible, but so much can go wrong... Unless someone has another idea....

What did this one end up being, and is it ruled completely out?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

You guys are out of control........I love the tech, so keep it up!

I would like the ability to do my own ADAS calibration so its correct for changes to vehicle angle and height after suspension and tire changes. Seems the locals aren't interested especially if the vehicle is modified. I've asked AlfaOBD to look into that ability for us unless you have another solution I did see in the thread?

I talked to the dealer about something similar - he said "liability". If you mess up and the FCW doesn't work as expected, you made a change in the safety equipment.

Sponsored