[QUOTE]Originally posted by Mikey
[B]
I've also developed software for many years.

 

Fair enough, you'll get no disagreement from me that most performance chips merely change maps, however a lot more is possible. As I posted earlier, wheel sensors are not required to manage effective traction control.

The sensorless approach to traction control is tried and true and could almost certainly be accomplished with a bit of new code loaded into stock ECU. It wouldn't require wheel speed sensors or any interface to the ABS system. The only hardware requirement would be the ability to monitor the ignition, analyze data and retard the spark. The hardware to accomplish these functions is most certainly included in every stock ECU.

Reprogramming the ECU would be no easy task without access to the application development environment. However, once the new code was developed, it certainly "could" be as simple as a one chip replacement. Especially if as I suspect, the system software were just sitting on a ROM.