Overview

• Speaking on The Verge’s Decoder podcast, Jim Farley said ECUs are locked on a majority of Ford models, including the Mustang.
• Farley described third‑party ECU rewrites as a quality and privacy risk that can trigger expensive failures the company is expected to fix.
• He pointed to his daughter’s boyfriend’s F‑150, which threw error codes and damaged a camshaft after an unauthorized ECU update, as an example of the risk.
• Farley indicated Ford will channel performance changes through factory‑controlled digital adjustments rather than reopening modules to outside tuners.
• Ford already offers approved upgrades, including a factory‑backed Mustang supercharger kit and power‑adding tunes for the Ranger Raptor and Bronco Raptor.