Chiptuning banned in California

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Renntech Mercedes-AMG A 45 torque roller

If America is the Wurmhout family, California is Mathilde. If you don’t get that reference, you should go watch the movie on Netflix with your little cousins. Because where the United States still has a great predilection for anything that has a V8, the State is California one of the strictest in the world for motorists. California has even banned chip tuning.

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What is chip tuning again?

Chip tuning is the collective name for the reprogramming of the computer that controls the engine. Not really a new chip is placed. Nowadays, it is mainly a matter of connecting a laptop and increasing the pressure of the turbo. In theory, cars could run more economically after a ‘chippie’ (again: they don’t get a new chip), but it’s often just extra power.

Chip tuning is banned in California

According to the California Bureau of Automotive Repair website, as of this week, cars must have the original engine software to pass the emissions test. This inspection takes place once every two years. Annoying when you buy a car that you didn’t know had tuning software.

It’s not entirely clear how inspection stations want to know if a car is chipped. according to Car Bibles it is easy to see if a car has received a software tuning, as often the file names can be seen (eg ‘dikke_tune_voor_mn_GTI_yo’). Another method would be to use memory; the sum of the bytes would be different on the tuned models.