Every car maker moved to Bosch’s MDG1 generation of ECUs around 2020 and, one by one, locked them. For a couple of years the answer for a 2021-on Golf, Q5, Macan, 3008 or Defender was a mail-in unlock. That has changed over the summer. Magic Motorsport’s Flex 8.0 on 29 June was first with a workshop boot glitch for seventeen of these ECUs; KESS3 3.51 on 3 September, and the CMD .288 release before it, added bench read and write for ten of these ECUs after a one-off boot unlock done in the workshop.
The ECUs
Bosch MD1CS003, MD1CS069, MD1CP007, MD1CS012, MG1CS042, MD1CS004 (HW80), MG1CS031, MD1CP006, MD1CS005 and MG1CS002, all fitted from 2021.
The cars
- Audi A1, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, Q2, Q3, Q5, Q7, Q8, TT, S4, S5, S6, S7, SQ5, RS4 and RS5
- Volkswagen Polo, Golf, T-Roc, Tiguan, Touareg, Arteon, Passat and Caddy; Skoda Octavia, Superb, Karoq, Kodiaq and Yeti; Seat Leon, Ateca and Tarraco; Cupra Leon and Formentor
- Porsche Macan, Macan S, GTS and Turbo, Cayenne, Cayenne S and the E-Hybrids, Panamera 4, 4S and the E-Hybrids; Bentley Bentayga and Flying Spur
- Peugeot 208, 2008, 308, 3008, 508, 5008, Partner, Rifter and Expert; Citroen C3, C4, C5 Aircross, Berlingo and Jumpy; DS 3, 7 and 9; Vauxhall Corsa, Astra, Mokka, Crossland, Grandland, Combo, Vivaro and Zafira Life; Fiat Ducato and Scudo; Toyota Proace City
- Land Rover Defender, Discovery, Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Velar
- Ford Focus, Puma, Kuga, EcoSport, Transit Connect and Tourneo Connect
- Hyundai Staria and Palisade; Kia Sorento, Stinger and Tasman; Genesis G70, G80, GV70 and GV80
What it means
The first visit needs the ECU out for the unlock and the write; after that the same tool can work on it again on the bench without repeating the unlock. For the 2.0 TDI and TFSI VAG cars, the 1.5 and 2.0 BlueHDi Peugeots and Citroens, and the Ingenium Land Rovers, that is the difference between a same-day Stage 1 and a week with the car off the road. Owners can check figures and prices for their exact car in the tuning builder; the Audi S4 and S5 and Transporter pages show what the files do on the dyno.
Dealers: the unlock needs the KESS3 Unlock Module or a CMD with the glitch hardware. Both are on the tools page and every ECU above is covered by the file service.
