By Access More Power in the New Ford Bronco with the Pedal Commander!
In this article, we’re gonna be taking a close-up look at the Pedal Commander throttle controller for our brand new Ford Bronco. We have big plans for this build but this is going to be one of the first things that go in because it’s easy to install, it’s inexpensive, and it gives us control over how the Bronco is going to feel. The Pedal Commander is one of our most popular products for any of the applications in any of the builds that we do and for very good reason.
People love this mod because it doesn’t have any effect on your warranty, it installs in under three minutes, and it’s popular with people who are actually adding power as well. Anybody modding their intake, exhaust, or doing tuning to make more power love this product because it helps them control the way that that throttle response feels. Pedal Commander makes these application-specific so you’re gonna have to make sure you get the one that works on the Bronco and the Bronco Sport.
VIDEO: ACCESS MORE POWER IN THE NEW FORD BRONCO WITH THE PEDAL COMMANDER
How it Works
First, let’s talk about how a throttle controller works. Modern vehicles have what is called a drive-by-wire throttle which means that the pedal is not actually connected by a cable to a mechanical apparatus in the engine. Instead, through a wiring harness, it talks to the ECU and tells the computer where the pedal is in its throw and how much throttle you’re asking for. This allows the engineers that have designed the car to design in throttle lag which makes the pedal a little less responsive so that when you touch it, it doesn’t instantly react. They often engineer it that way because they’re designing these vehicles for anybody to be able to drive off the lot which is everybody from a teenage first driver to your 90-year-old grandma.
The bottom line is that for more experienced drivers or people that want to feel more connected to their vehicle, this can be a little bit frustrating. This throttle module allows you to control exactly how that pedal responds and you can make it more sensitive or even less sensitive if you want to save fuel. So to sum that up, the Pedal Commander enables you to instantly and easily control the throttle responsiveness of your vehicle without affecting the warranty in any negative way and it installs easily in under three minutes.
BUY THE PEDAL COMMANDER FOR THE BRONCO HERE!!
The Pedal Commander is a popular mod for several applications and the most popular application that we sell this for is the Toyota Tacoma. However, on the Bronco, the improvement in throttle seems to be a greater improvement than even on the Tacoma, and we’re excited to have instant access to all of the power of this very capable off-road-ready vehicle. The Pedal Commander features four different modes of throttle response: Eco, City, Sport, and Sport Plus.
Eco and City Modes
Now the Eco mode tends to be the boring mode, I don’t generally like that mode it makes the throttle lag a bit more than from the factory. It is nice though for saving fuel on long trips for example, and in this application with the Bronco when you’re on a 4×4 trail, it might actually be a nice feature for slowing your throttle response enabling you to drive just a little bit smoother and allow you to get over obstacles easier without losing traction.
The City mode is going to probably be your daily driving mode and is much closer to the factory setting, but just a little more sensitive.
The Sport Modes
The Sport mode is going to actually liven up your Bronco. It makes the vehicle feel like it has more accessible power because that pedal is going to be more responsive to your inputs.
Then the Sport Plus mode is what they also call their “Race” mode. This allows you to virtually eliminate all throttle lag giving you instant access to every drop of power that this motor has to offer.
Additional Adjustment
In addition to these four primary modes, the Pedal Commander gives you an additional nine levels of adjustment within each mode. You have your standard base mode that they’ve coded and then you can go down four levels of sensitivity making it less responsive or up four levels of sensitivity giving you a total of 36 levels of adjustment across the entire range of your throttle response. This allows you to tune exactly the way that you want your Bronco to respond to your pedal inputs. All these modes are easily adjusted by simply touching the buttons on the face of the Pedal Commander and it has a little LED light to indicate which mode you are in. They also offer a Bluetooth app so you can connect this to your phone and you can hide your Pedal Commander and make all of your adjustments through your phone and have a nice stealth installation.
Nothing about the Pedal Commander changes the engine’s real power output — it’s not adjusting the ECU mapping, it’s not making more horsepower — all it’s doing is simply making the vehicle feel more responsive to your input so that it feels like it has more power and it is very noticeable.
No Effect on Warranty
The upside of this is that there is no negative effect on your warranty so when you take the vehicle in to the service department you’re not going to have any trouble. This is important for a lot of buyers. For the people that are adding power like intakes, exhausts, actual tuning, maybe even turbo upgrades, this is also a great mod because it gives you a very finite level of detail over how you access that power that you’ve added. It comes with everything that you need to install it as well and we’re and we’re going to get on with showing you how to install it and how to connect the Bluetooth app.
Install Guide
Pedal Commander recommends for vehicles with a proximity key to keep the fob at least 35 feet away for 5 minutes to make sure everything is properly powered down.
- In the footwell, locate the throttle pedal harness right above the gas pedal
- To disconnect the wiring harness slide up on the red lock, depress the tab underneath the red slide, and pull up.
- Simply connect the corresponding plugs on your Pedal Commander in line with the gas pedal.
- Now decide where to mount your Pedal Commander. We liked the location directly under the steering wheel because it’s accessible but still nicely hidden.
- Use the provided alcohol pad to clean the mounting surface and the back of the Pedal Commander mounting plate.
- Apply the supplied velcro to the back of the Pedal Commander mounting plate and then press it onto your desired mounting location.
- Make sure any extra wiring is not going to interfere with any of your pedals and use zip ties to tuck them out of the way and the installation is done!
Using the Bluetooth App
- Now to set up your Bluetooth app, go to the app store and download the Pedal Commander app.
- Once you’re in the app connect the device by tapping the “Connect” button in the center of the screen.
- Once your device is recognized, tap on it to connect. You’ll need to enter the six-digit serial number on the back of your Pedal Commander.
- It will then ask you to enter a name for your device and when you’re finished tap “Save”. After that it’ll take just a few seconds to connect your device and then you’re ready to go.
- Using the app is pretty self-explanatory, but you can change the modes and the level of sensitivity in each mode in seconds.
BUY THE PEDAL COMMANDER FOR THE BRONCO HERE!!
Okay, so you can buy your Pedal Commander at Motoroso.com and this does work on the Bronco and the Bronco Sport. We’ve made a bunch of other videos as well about suspension upgrade options, side step options, and aftermarket bumpers for this application and we’ll put links to those videos below. We’ve got a ton of mods planned for our Bronco coming up and we will be doing all kinds of stuff to this thing you’re going to want to follow along with our YouTube channel, so subscribe if you are interested in that. Thanks for reading!
