New ECUs We Can Unlock, And the Cars They Cover

More and more modern cars leave the factory with a locked, encrypted ECU, Bosch’s MG1, MD1 and MDG1 families, that can’t be read or written the old OBD way. On BMW that’s most cars built after June 2020; on Porsche, Land Rover, VAG and others it has been the norm for years. A lot of tuners simply can’t touch them.

We can. We bench-unlock these ECUs in-house, and the list keeps growing. Here’s what we currently unlock and the cars each one covers. Unlocking is carried out as part of a tuning or software booking with us, it’s the first step of the work, not a service we sell on its own.

BMW

Bosch MG1CS024, MG1CS201 & MG1CS049 (petrol) and MD1CP032 & MD1CS001 (diesel) cover almost the entire modern BMW range, the B38 1.5T, B48 2.0T and B58 3.0T petrols right up to the S58 in the M2, M3 and M4 and the S63 4.4 V8 in the M5, M8 and X5 M, plus the B37, B47 and B57 diesels from the 116d to the 540d. Think 320i through M340i, 440i, 540i, Z4 M40i, right up to M5 and X5 M, plus 320d, 520d, 330d, X5 40d and more, even Alpina B3, B4, B5 and the XD models. This is the “locked ECU” you’ll hear about on post-June-2020 cars, you can see every model and engine we cover on our ECU unlocking page.

Porsche

MG1CP007, MG1CS047 and MG1CS008 cover the petrol Cayenne, Panamera, Macan and 911.

VAG (VW, Audi, SEAT, Škoda, Cupra)

MD1CS004 (2.0 TDI) and MD1CS014 (3.0 V6 TDI) on the diesel side, plus petrol MG1CS002 (2.9 & 3.0 V6 TFSI), MG1CS031 (2.0 TSI) and MG1CS163 (2.5 TFSI & W12), covering the Golf, Passat, A3–A8 and the Q-range through to the RS3, S4–S7, Cupra Formentor and even the Bentley Continental.

Land Rover & Jaguar

MD1CP007 & MD1CP017 (Ingenium diesel) and MG1CS028 (Ingenium petrol) cover the Discovery, Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Velar, Defender and F-Pace.

Ford, Isuzu, Iveco, Hyundai / Kia & PSA

• Ford MD1CS005, 2.0 EcoBlue: Transit, Custom, Ranger.
• Isuzu MD1CS089, D-Max 1.9 diesel.
• Iveco MD1CS069, Daily 2.3 & 3.0 diesel.
• Hyundai / Kia MD1CS012, 1.6 & 2.0 CRDi: Tucson, Sportage, i30, Ceed.
• Peugeot / Citroën / Vauxhall, MD1CS003 (BlueHDi diesel) and MG1CS042 (PureTech petrol).

How it works

Unlocking is done on the bench, in-house, we read the locked ECU, unlock it, and it’s ready for tuning or a clean return to stock, fully reversible. If you’re booking a Stage 1 on a locked car the unlock is built into your appointment and added to the price. On a BMW or Alpina it no longer makes your slot any longer; on an Audi, VAG, Porsche or Bentley the slot becomes a 4-hour half-day. You can also book the unlock on its own if you’re tuning the car elsewhere, or post the ECU in to us.

See the full, up-to-date list on our ECU unlocking page, or send us your ECU part number and we’ll confirm. Not sure if your car is affected? Our G20 320d guide explains the post-2020 locked-ECU situation.