About OpenHaldex

Open Source, By Design

OpenHaldex exists to provide transparent, configurable control over Haldex AWD systems without closed-source restrictions or artificially high barriers to entry, such as price.

It is maintained by Forbes Automotive with a clear goal: make enthusiast-led automotive engineering accessible, inspectable, and improvable — with the community, not behind closed doors or licenses.

Why OpenHaldex Exists

The idea that Haldex systems could be controlled openly was demonstrated years ago by a community developer known as ABangingDonk, who created OpenHaldexT4 as an open source controller solution for early Generation 1 Haldex-equipped vehicles.

While that proved open control of Haldex systems was possible and valuable, it did not solve the problem for owners of vehicles running newer Haldex generations which use different control logic, messaging, and system behaviour.

Forbes Automotive became involved to expand the original idea into a broader, actively maintained project capable of supporting modern Haldex-equipped vehicles. This work required extensive reverse engineering work for later-generation systems, building reliable firmware and hardware, and establishing a supported direction for the project going forward.

While OpenHaldex is fully open source and designed to be built by anyone, not every enthusiast is comfortable assembling or configuring embedded electronics. For those users, Forbes Automotive offers fully assembled and tested OpenHaldex controllers, allowing drivers to benefit from OpenHaldex without needing to build the hardware themselves.

Project Principles

• Transparency OpenHaldex is designed so that core behaviour can be inspected and understood, not hidden behind proprietary black boxes or licenses.
• Accessibility The goal is to reduce gatekeeping — functionality shouldn’t be locked behind excessive pricing or closed systems.
• Maintainability The official project direction is documented, versioned, and actively maintained so users can rely on it over time.
• Community collaboration Open-source works best when improvements can be shared and reviewed. OpenHaldex is built to support that workflow. Anyone can contribute to the project.
• Real-world use The project is developed with practical installation and real vehicles in mind - there are hundreds of installations in the wild on all sorts of crazy builds.

The Official Platform: OpenHaldex C6

The official OpenHaldex project is actively developed and maintained on the ESP32-C6 Wi-Fi platform. This is the supported direction of the project, and the documentation published on openhaldex.com and within the OpenHaldex-C6 repository reflects the official controller hardware and current feature set.