Pedal Commander

[Redright9]

Hello,

Just curious on peoples thoughts about this product:

https://pedalcommander.com/

A friend of mine is going to order one for his Tundra... Basically it just takes the pedal signal and changes it (makes it more aggressive quicker) making the pedal to throttle body react different. I get how it works, but on the fence if this is a gimmick or legit product that people could benefit from. What do you think? Do people just need to learn how to use their foot better or is this a great aid for driving your vehicle?

 

[MCompact]

It depends on both the vehicle and the driver. With a DBW throttle the tip-in can be very lazy or very abrupt- or anywhere in between. Some people swear by them, and I don't believe they hurt anything. That said, I've never felt the need for one.

 

[Donald]

Sounds like a gimmick.

 

[c502cid]

I had one on my previous company truck, 2016 F150 2.7 motor. It made the throttle feel like an on-off switch. I had to take it off.

 

[glock19]

I had one on my 2017 GMC Sierra. The first half of the gas pedal travel was dead and the second half was pretty touchy. For some reason it seems like GM just programmed the gas pedal to work in an exponential fashion rather than linearly. In that case, the pedal commander really helped to smooth things out.

 

[LoneRanger]

Smoke and mirrors. All it does is front load the throttle tip-in.

 

[Kawiguy454]

If you look at the actual function of a throttle body while operating the function is very non linear. the first 15% of its opening ramps up very quickly so air metering can be Lazy then suddenly surge. The black box basically attempts to flatten the knee out of the response curve. IMO this is a bandaid that just changes how fast the throttle blade opens. The real fix tio this is to look at ported throttle bodies that physically changes the flow characteristics of the throttle body to flatten out response. Look up Soler Performance for a good write up of this and TB's they offer.

 

[JimPghPA]

Many years ago I drove a neighbors car to get it out of snow it was stuck in when he could not figure out how to get out of it. That thing had a supper touchy gas pedal, like what you would normally press to go 10 MPH the thing wanted to be going 45 MPH. That made it extremely difficult to not spin the tires much faster than I wanted to in the snow.

Bottom line is, there are some situations where an aggressive gas pedal can be a royal PITA.

 

[Oildudeny]

Save your money pal.

 

[Pew]

Some have tried it on the Ford Focus' with the PowerShift trans. Save your money, you can do the same thing with pressing the gas pedal more or having a legitimate aftermarket tune.

 

[SpitFire6]

Hi,
SW to change the response of the accelerator pedal is a poor solution. Better to do it mechanically.
Snail cam?

 

[Benzadmiral]

I've been tempted by this gadget. But at $200 it seems a bit much.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted by JimPghPA
Many years ago I drove a neighbors car to get it out of snow it was stuck in when he could not figure out how to get out of it. That thing had a supper touchy gas pedal, like what you would normally press to go 10 MPH the thing wanted to be going 45 MPH. That made it extremely difficult to not spin the tires much faster than I wanted to in the snow.

Bottom line is, there are some situations where an aggressive gas pedal can be a royal PITA.

I've always thought my Tundra was that way--super aggressive tip-in. I've kinda adapted but it was annoying for a while, since my TDi had a more natural response (plus turbo lag).

 

[blupupher]

I saw something similar a while back.
Our Scion has a very touchy throttle, and wanted something to mellow it out, but the price was not worth it IMO.

I had looked into making my own for a lot less, but felt the risk was not worth it.

Our Santa Fe has an "Eco Mode" that does similar (slows throttle response as well as changing shift points), I leave it in that all the time because regular and sport modes are way to touchy.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted by LoneRanger
Smoke and mirrors. All it does is front load the throttle tip-in.


That's my take too.

There's guys over at a Ram forum I frequent that swear by them.

It's like anything else. At what expense are you "gaining" throttle response? Increased wear on the drivetrain?

 

[jims5600]

Dont understand the negative replies. I installed one on my 08 Corvette,very pleased with it.
Had a tip in hesitation,not no more. Throttle is much more responsive now.
Perhaps on other cars it doesn't do much but for me it was a game changer.

 

[MCompact]

As I said earlier, it all depends on the vehicle and the driver. A lot of cars have an Eco and or a Sport Mode that do the same thing. In my 2 Series I find throttle response in Eco Pro Mode to be too lazy; I only ever use it on the interstate. Comfort and Sport Modes are much more to my liking.

 

[fusion66]

It is an excellent product. I installed one in my 2014 Regal and the car became far more satisfying to drive (and I used a conservative setting). I know many on this forum will disagree but I believe it produces the same effect as a good tune.

 

[CBR.worm]

Seems like an interesting idea. One of my cars, the throttle tip-in is so abrupt, you almost can't leave a light smoothly. I sometimes put it in snow mode to make it a little less aggressive.

 

[Jake_J]

If you want a more aggressive throttle response just press the pedal harder, save your $200. If you have a hesitation in your throttle response try looking into it because it's generally not supposed to be there.