Pedal Commander

[zrk]

I saw this mentioned in another thread, and looks like it might be a nice way to get around the annoying drive-by-wire response times of the pedal <-> throttle. Has only one used one on their Supra, and what's the experience like?

Probably my biggest annoyance with the car is the laggy throttle, especially at slow speeds.

Sponsored

 

[Twisted Tuning]

pedal responsiveness and etc. can be tuned. no need adding in a 3rd party.

 

[zrk]

pedal responsiveness and etc. can be tuned. no need adding in a 3rd party.

With a locked 2021 ECU? If so - I'm super interested.

 

[HookemNC]

With a locked 2021 ECU? If so - I'm super interested.

Same. I have a JB4 and saw they added an "anti-lag" (currently mislabled as DWP in the settings) but I have not spoken to anyone who has tried it.

 

[BA9092]

I have it and enjoy it. I think it does help with the electronic drive-by-wire throttle lag (not to be confused with turbo lag).

Here's Brian's review of it:

 

[zrk]

drive-by-wire throttle lag (not to be confused with turbo lag).

Yeah, I'm not confused on that. I actually had just watched that video and was like.. holy shit, is this what I need? I guess worst case it sucks, and I'm out $300 bucks or whatever. It's not exactly a loss.

 

[Moorman]

I have it and enjoy it. I think it does help with the electronic drive-by-wire throttle lag (not to be confused with turbo lag).

Here's Brian's review of it:

So glad you posted that vid as this touches on my #1 issue. I'd purchased the pedal commander a while back but never installed it thinking it should just be tuned out, and have mostly learned to adapt to a very non-linear pedal experience. On those days though where work has fried my brain and I'm exhausted, I find I'm just not quick enough to anticipate that pedal/throttle relationship and get so frustrated at basic city stop & go. Especially the vehicle speed variable that has the pedal give more effective throttle while transitioning through ~35mph...I'd give some pedal, not get what I'm expecting so I give more pedal, then hit 30mph and 'whoa' way too much and spend the rest of the range continually pulling back on the pedal to accelerate at a constant rate. It's like being a step removed from the car and calling in my intentions through a second party, and then reacting to whatever they interpreted those intentions to be so I get what I actually want.

I'll have to get the commander in there this weekend and start playing with it.

 

[turbopk]

I hope those who try the pedal commander have good luck like the guy on YT did. Lets keep this thread active with updates of those who install and use it.

*I did some research on the product and apparently its a solid product for just about any vehicle its installed on.

 

[digicidal]

I don't mind the bit of electronic lag in the MKV most of the time (e.g. not sure if I mind it $300 worth). However, I will definitely be putting one on my wife's RX350... because $300 vs. taking the initial depreciation hit on a car with only 5500 miles that drives us both completely nuts is a no-brainer. Apples to carrots comparison... but I'll post my findings here regardless.

 

[Raidernation]

Isn't this thing like sprint booster? If so you guys may want to check that out too. Sprint booster is smaller and less noticeable.

 

[digicidal]

Isn't this thing like sprint booster? If so you guys may want to check that out too. Sprint booster is smaller and less noticeable.

Yep... it's basically identical... although I'm not sure about "smaller and less noticeable." It appears to be a nearly identical form factor... just a slightly different shape and design (2 tactile buttons vs. 6-8 pads).

The one advantage I can see (though it might be available on the sprint booster as well) is the addition of BT so you can control it via an app. To me that's the winner because I can completely hide the entire thing behind the lower dash molding... and make adjustments via phone.

Edit: after looking closer, you're correct - the dongle appears to be able half the size of the PC unit. There are many nearly identical tools out there... K&N has even more "discrete" version - unfortunately only for domestics it appears.

PC blog listed 2 others I hadn't heard of - undoubtedly there are dozens more on Alibaba, Amazon, etc. of dubious quality and support. I'd definitely say PC and SB are the most "polished" seeming.

 

[BadOne]

I could be entirely off base, but this seems like pure snake oil.

From their own website:

"The Pedal commander is an adjustable amplifier for your gas pedal."

This seems to work by setting an increased amount of voltage paired with amount of pedal depression. In higher sensitivity modes, it sends more voltage to the ecu with less pedal depression. You're not increasing throttle response, you are getting to a desired level of throttle request with less pedal depression.

If anything, you are losing control of your throttle. There is only so much a throttle can open up to. You now have less depression to work with for given throttle levels. This might work for those with no foot control, but if you're actually looking for an increase in throttle response, this isn't it.

There are many videos confirming this.

 

[max]

"The Pedal commander is an adjustable amplifier for your gas pedal."

Tried this feature on the JB4 and I must say, it was a little "quirky". I tend to agree on the "usefulness' of this.........

Since Turbo cars tend to have some level of lag at low RPM's, it is not so much pedal response as it is Turbo response. To test this, switch to 'manual" and use the pedals for shifting. You will notice that by keeping the revs a little higher, the pedal response will be nearly "instant" as you are allowing enough exhaust to build up thus, spinning the turbo more to produce boost when you mash the gas vs. letting the rpm's build with the "auto" gear selection.

 

[Moorman]

It doesn't add power or remove/reduce turbo lag...think of it more like adjusting the sensitivity on your mouse and putting the TV/monitor into game mode to reduce input lag.

With a tune I find the pedal in sport to be too sensitive and difficult to finesse daily. The device I used was the Injen x-pedal and have so far settled on setting ECO-2.

Stock pedal response would give me ~90% max torque at ~60% pedal, leaving that last 40% of foot motion to feel like dead space. With this device on ECO-2 I get 90% power much closer to 90% pedal and a smoother ramp up in between. Now in Normal mode, the pedal is pretty mushy on this setting, but I rarely use Normal, or switch to ECO-1 for a better feel.

 

[H2O_Doc]

The title of this thread sounds like the job you give to the shittiest General in the Army.

Sponsored