Subaru has recently issued a recall for select 2015 WRX and 2014-2015 Forester XT vehicles. The recall, titled 'WQW58 2.0 DIT Pre-Ignition Service Program', instructs the Subaru dealer to perform a spark plug inspection and leak-down test of the engine in earlier vehicles. In rare cases, the engine may be replaced. Subaru also updates the car's engine control unit (ECU) with their latest calibration.
We have added support for Subaru's new ECU type being flashed to cars during this process. This includes new Accessport firmware, Accesstuner software, and off-the-shelf (OTS) maps (v300 or later).
We've compiled the following information to help you transition your customers to new updated maps. Please read the end-user FAQ at the following link first. This contains basic information about Subaru's recall and the Cobb updates.
Yes, in most cases. More detail below.
When making a custom map for a customer, you'll be able to use any of the post-recall 1 or later ECU Types including the Post-Recall 2 and CCF ECU Types.
The updated Accesstuner software (version 1.9.1.0-12092 or later) allows you to convert your maps. There are two ECU revisions in Accesstuner for each affected vehicle. The process of updating depends on the ECU revision in question:
15 WRX 6MT:
15 WRX CVT:
14-15 FXT:
The 15 WRX 6MT and the 14-15 FXT were based on Subaru's recalled ECU. However, the COBB v2xx OTS maps for the 15 WRX 6MT contained the recall fixes (from what is now called the "Post-recall 1" ECU). If you used v2xx OTS tunes as a base for your custom tunes, they include the recall fix calibration data. However, you must still update these calibrations using the "Post-recall 1" or "Post-recall 2" ECUs to avoid a warning that will be displayed on the Accessport when your customers change maps (see below). For the 14-15 FXT, maps must be replaced with "Post-Recall" ECU revision files to avoid the same warning.
No - only the 14-15 FXT allows you to select a recalled ECU but you are not able to edit/save via that ECU (only view the map to allow you to copy the calibration to the "Post-Recall ECU").
This is a bit of gray area. It depends on the exact changes made in the map and which map was used as a base. To play it safe, we are recommending that all Accessport users have their maps updated to one of the Post-Recall ECUs. Maps that are still based on the recall ECU will receive a warning when the user attempts to change maps (see below).
Newer Accessport firmware will present this message (see full message text below) when attempting to change to a map that is based on Subaru's recall ECU. This is to let the Accessport user know that they are attempting to flash a map that has not been updated. This error check has no knowledge of the actual calibration contained in the map, so it will pop up even on the v2xx OTS maps for the 15 WRX 6MT (we are only supporting the new v300+ OTS maps from now on). You will need to update any custom tunes to one of the Post-Recall ECUs to avoid this message. The user can still click through the message and install the map if they need to.
Short of sending them the wrong map for their ECU, it is likely that your customer did not update their Accessport to the latest firmware version. This is required in order for the Accessport to recognize a map created in one of the new ECU revisions.
With this initial release, you will need to manually copy your tune from the old ECU to the new ECU as follows:
In a future release, we plan to support an automated map copy that will copy over most of the tune to the new ECU. It will not be able to copy all tables due to some logic changes introducing new tables in the new ECU or changing existing table sizes so some manually copying will still be necessary.
The following tables have changed in the factory calibration for the 15 WRX 6MT from the recalled ECU to the "Post-recall 1" ECU. Accesstuner will merge the changes in your existing map with the new changes in this ECU on a cell-by-cell basis. If a given table cell in your existing map has changed from stock, then it will be copied, otherwise the cell will use the stock value from the "Post-recall 1 ECU". WARNING: Because this is a merging of stock data and your tuned data, it is critical that you check each of these tables to make sure there are no issues with your calibration after opening an existing map in the "Post-recall 1" ECU. Be sure to inspect the data on each axis.
This is entirely up to you, however, keep in mind that all future features will only be supported with the "Post-recall 2" ECU for the 15 WRX. This include the upcoming Cobb Custom Features ECU which will add support for Flex Fuel. Additionally, this ECU is based on Subaru's latest calibration and logic changes so you may find additional benefits to using it.
Subaru has effectively adopted the 16 WRX ECU for the latest 15 WRX ECU ("Post-recall 2" for 6MT or "Post-recall 1" for CVT). As such, if you've tuned both of these vehicles, you'll already be aware of the differences:
For 14 FXT:
For 15 FXT: