About OpenHaldex
Haldex control shouldn't be a closed box with a high price. OpenHaldex is open, inspectable and built by enthusiasts.
Where it started
Years ago a community developer known as A Banging Donk showed that Haldex couplings could be controlled openly. His original OpenHaldex, built on a pair of Arduino boards and later a Teensy, worked on Generation 1 cars.
That proved the idea, but it didn't help owners of later cars. Newer Haldex generations use different messages, different control logic and different diagnostics.
Forbes Automotive took the project on and reverse-engineered Generations 2, 4 and 5, including the GM variant of Gen4. OpenHaldex-C6 is the original source of that Gen2, Gen4 and Gen5 logic. The hardware moved to the ESP32-C6, which added Wi-Fi setup from a phone. Today there are hundreds of controllers fitted to all sorts of builds.
Everything stays open source. If you'd rather not build your own, Forbes Automotive sells controllers assembled and tested.
What we care about
Transparency
You can read every line of code and every trace on the board. Nothing is hidden behind a licence key.
Accessibility
Performance doesn't need to be expensive or complicated. Build one yourself for the cost of parts, or buy one ready to fit.
Maintained
Releases are versioned and documented so you can rely on them over time.
Community
Anyone can contribute, and improvements are shared and reviewed in the open.
Real cars
Developed on real vehicles and tested against VCDS, not just on the bench.
Credits
- A Banging Donk for the original OpenHaldex for Gen1 cars.
- Chris (meatro) for OpenHaldex-S3. Parts of the map editor, CAN view, web interface, PlatformIO structure, API control and SavvyCAN tooling come from it.
- Arwid Vasilev for the V1.02 PCB redesign.
- LVT Technologies for the original over-the-air update integration.
- Everyone who has sent logs, tested betas and reported issues.
Licence
OpenHaldex-C6 firmware and hardware design files are released under the MIT License. Use it, build it, modify it and share it. Just keep the copyright and licence notices.
Other projects built on or copied from this code aren't the work of Forbes Automotive, and can't be supported by us. For official releases, hardware and documentation, use openhaldex.com and the OpenHaldex-C6 repository.
Get involved
Report issues, suggest features or share your CAN logs on GitHub and Discord.