Many performance enhancement chips simply increase the fuel pressure, boost and throttle input. The feeling of power is great, but there is nothing that monitors engine temperature, changes inputs for different driving needs, measures over-fueling and the fuel-air mixture, or the many other elements that are required to deliver safe power.

In light of our ever-increasing fuel prices, achieving better fuel economy has become a priority for most people, but they do not always know how to do it. Short of the oft-preached mantra of driving more slowly, what else can one do to improve the fuel economy of one’s vehicle, if at all.

Getting the most power from your engine does not always help when you are driving in a technical off-road section where good throttle response is more important than pure engine power. For these conditions, you can select an off-road setting on your Unichip that gives you more low-down power. This is also an ideal setting if you are towing a large caravan or boat, or towing someone who does not have the power of a Unichip from the mud or water.

Select and lock the vehicle in this setting when you park and are worried about the safety of the vehicle. In this mode the engine is rendered completely powerless and it will not deliver any power to the wheels. Your engine will merely turn, but nothing will happen.

Road-speed signals are normally digital signals generated by the speed sensor in the transmission. They can also be inductive signals, or sometimes the ABS system will send road-speed information over the CAN bus to the ECU. The ECU uses the speed signal to calculate road speed and automatic transmission shift points. You can use the Unichip to manipulate the road-speed sig nal in order to remove road-speed limiters.