[Calum]

To any tuners, is it possible to count the number of key strokes or starts with ecutek?

The reason I'm asking is I was thinking the other day that I wished there were a way to try a tune before I buy. The next thought, of course, was how could the tuner protect their IP is such a situation. Which lead to thinking you the car would still need to be able to start once the trial period was over. It would be unsafe to have the car turn itself into a paper weight after a set number of starts.

So here's what I'm thinking. A customer requests a trial tune. The tuner sends out a tune that is loaded with two maps, one would include the tune to be tried and the other would be a valet map with safe but reduced power. The customer has enough key strokes for the tune to adjust trims, run a few data logs and drive the tune for a few days to get a feel for. I'm thinking 10-15 starts. After the counter has surpassed the set number the car ecu would default to the second map automatically and the ability to change maps would be disabled. No revisions or updates of any kind would be sent out until the customer has paid. Once money has been paid datalogs would be sent into the tuner and, along with any revisions, the counter would be removed the second map could be setup normally.

So, any thoughts or opinions? Have I just gone mad and this is incredibly stupid? Or could this be a viable way for those who already have the hardware to try different tuners without spending a ton of money?