Before diving in, it’s crucial to understand the background of OBD2 performance chip scams. Extensive research, like the reverse engineering analysis by quarkslab (https://blog.quarkslab.com/reverse-engineering-of-the-nitro-obd2.html), has exposed the widespread Nitro OBD2 scam. This scam, originating from China, has spawned countless imitations, all promising miraculous performance gains from a simple OBD2 plug-in device. Unscrupulous sellers have capitalized on this, marketing these blinking lights as high-performance “tuners” at inflated prices.
This article focuses on the “Thorton Top Speed OBDII Cat Performance Chip Tuner,” dissecting its claims and revealing its true nature. To fully grasp the context, reviewing the quarkslab article is highly recommended. Numerous articles and tests have definitively proven the Nitro OBD module to be a scam, and the Thorton chip follows the same deceptive pattern. Don’t rely solely on our assessment; investigate the evidence yourself.
Furthermore, numerous YouTube videos corroborate the Nitro-OBD light flasher scam and its various clones:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgXwfBTKLGU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-l9ohTjvkw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdoIjt2mMEQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OIO1tJPEy8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1OmGDE1FLA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytwlDVaFbec
Reverse Engineering the Thorton Top Speed OBDII Cat Performance Chip Tuner
Our investigation involves reverse engineering and in-depth analysis of the “Thorton Top Speed OBDII Cat Performance Chip Tuner” to determine if it lives up to its performance promises or if it’s just another elaborate hoax.
The Thorton Top Speed OBDII Cat Performance Chip boasts a sleek black exterior and an appealing design. However, its aesthetics bear a striking resemblance to previously reviewed scam products. Thorton Chip Tuning, the company behind this device, claims to be “a team of automotive enthusiasts based on Columbus, GA. Founded in 2008 our mission is to work with high performance vehicles in any way we can.”
Image alt text: Thorton Chip Tuning “About Us” page displaying generic automotive shop photo, raising doubts about their tuning expertise.
A closer inspection of the “shop” photo on their “About Us” page raises serious doubts about their claimed tuning expertise. The depicted workers appear to be focused on axles, gearboxes, and tires, with no visible activities related to vehicle tuning or ECU remapping. This discrepancy casts an early shadow of suspicion on their claims.
Image alt text: Questionable “About Us” shop photo from Thorton Chip Tuning website, showing axle and tire work instead of engine tuning activities.
The Thorton Tuning Chip product is advertised on their website, thortonchiptuning.com, with visually appealing promotional images.
Image alt text: Attractive product advertisement for Thorton Top Speed OBDII Cat chip on their official website, masking potential scam.
The advertisement is undeniably slick, but as experience dictates, appearances can be deceiving. Even at first glance, there are subtle hints suggesting a familiar pattern of deception. A closer look reveals striking similarities to other known scam products, particularly in the packaging and design.
Case and Packaging: Déjà Vu of SuperOBD Scam
The packaging of the Thorton Top Speed OBDII Cat chip immediately triggers alarm bells.
Image alt text: Side-by-side comparison of SuperOBD scam chip box and Thorton Performance Chip box, highlighting near-identical packaging and instructions.
The box itself bears an uncanny resemblance to the SuperOBD scam chip packaging we previously exposed. The size, shape, and even the installation instructions printed on the bottom are almost identical, with only minor alterations. This striking similarity immediately raises red flags about the Thorton chip’s authenticity.
What about the chip itself? Does it offer any differentiation from known scams?
Image alt text: Visual comparison of Super OBD scam chip and Thorton Top Speed OBDII Cat chip, revealing identical design and components despite branding changes.
Unfortunately, the Thorton chip mirrors the Super OBD2 / Nitro OBD chip scam in design as well. The shape, lights, button, and overall exterior are virtually indistinguishable. Only the color and branding have been modified. This further strengthens the suspicion that the Thorton Top Speed OBDII Cat is simply a rebranded version of existing OBD2 scam devices.
Thorton’s Bold Claims: Echoes of Deception
Thorton makes numerous claims about the performance enhancements offered by this “chip.” Let’s examine some of these claims:
Image alt text: Screenshot of Thorton Chiptuning website claim about chip adjusting to driving habits and remapping ECU after 125 miles.
Initial claims, such as “After driving about 125 total road miles, our tuning chip will adjust itself to your vehicle’s engine, your driving habits and continues to remap the ECU for optimal performance and fuel consumption as you continue to drive,” are typical of similar products marketed online. They create a semblance of technological sophistication without providing any concrete details.
Image alt text: Thorton Chiptuning website claim asserting “U.S. sellers” status, despite product’s likely Chinese origin.
Their claim of being “U.S. sellers” is another common tactic. While they might operate sales from the US, the product’s manufacturing origin is highly suspect, as we will uncover later.
Image alt text: Conflicting claims on Thorton website about universal fitment and need for specific vehicle details during purchase, indicating deceptive marketing.
Here, contradictions begin to emerge. They state, “The Thorton Performance Chip will fit all engine sizes and types for your make of vehicle,” suggesting universal compatibility within a car brand. However, they also request specific vehicle “Make, Model and engine” during purchase. This inconsistency raises serious questions. Is it a custom-programmed chip, or a universal one-size-fits-all device? The conflicting information is a classic red flag of deceptive marketing.
Image alt text: Outlandish claim on Thorton website promising 40HP gains from OBD plug-in chip, mirroring claims of other known scam modules.
The claim of “up to 40HP gains” from a simple OBD plug-in device, especially one visually identical to known scams, is outlandish. Such significant horsepower increases are typically unattainable without professional ECU tuning and often hardware modifications. This claim is a blatant exaggeration and further solidifies our suspicion of a scam.
Cost and “Levels”: Echoes of Chipyourcar Scam
The Thorton Top Speed OBDII Cat Performance Chip is offered in three “levels” with varying prices on thortonchiptuning.com.
Image alt text: Thorton Chiptuning’s tiered pricing structure for Top Speed OBDII Cat chip, with levels based on claimed “power” despite identical chip appearance.
The “Level 1” chip costs $29.95, “Level 2” is $59.95, and “Level 3” is $89.95. Intriguingly, all “levels” of the chip look identical in the product photos. Furthermore, the dial logos representing these “levels” bear a striking resemblance to those used by another scam, the Chipyourcar Thunderbolt chip.
Image alt text: Comparison of dial designs for Chipyourcar scam chip levels and Thorton chip levels, showing nearly identical MPG and horsepower values.
While the dial designs are slightly different in color and shape, the claimed MPG and horsepower values are EXACTLY the same. The odds of this being coincidental are incredibly low. This points towards either Thorton being a new scam operation by the same people behind Chip Your Car, or a highly sophisticated copycat effort. The accumulated evidence strongly suggests the former.
Internal Analysis: Unmasking the NitroOBD Clone
To ascertain the true nature of the Thorton Top Speed OBD CAT Performance Chip, we ordered one and disassembled it. Upon opening the plastic casing, we encountered a circuit board design that was disturbingly familiar from our analysis of previous scam modules.
Image alt text: External view of Thorton Performance Chip Top Speed OBDII Cat, showing plastic casing before disassembly.
Image alt text: Internal components of disassembled Thorton Top Speed OBDII Cat Performance Chip, revealing circuit board and familiar layout.
A detailed comparison with previously analyzed NitroOBD clones confirmed our suspicion: the circuit board is yet another iteration of the NitroOBD scam, with rearranged components and altered LED colors.
Image alt text: Circuit board comparison between SUPERobd NitroOBS scam chip and Thorton Top Speed OBDII CAT Performance Chip, demonstrating identical components and layout.
All components on both modules are identical, merely repositioned, and some LED light colors have been changed. It utilizes the same infamous microprocessor, the PIC16F59, which lacks the memory capacity to store genuine vehicle maps required for real ECU tuning.
The reason for this striking similarity becomes evident when examining the chip’s origin.
Image alt text: AliExpress listing for OBDIICAT scam chip, revealing identical product to Thorton Top Speed OBDII Cat and its Chinese origin.
As seen in the AliExpress listing, the module is sourced from China at a cost of approximately $4.32 per unit. Astoundingly, the Thorton Chip Tuning website even uses the EXACT SAME product photo from this AliExpress supplier! They have essentially taken product images directly from the source and used them for their marketing.
Further down the AliExpress page, the listing explicitly compares the Thorton Top Speed OBDII Chip to the original NitroOBD Yellow scam chip.
Image alt text: AliExpress product comparison showing Thorton Top Speed OBDII Chip alongside NitroOBD, confirming product similarity and scam association.
The Chinese supplier openly ADMITS that this is the same product as NitroOBD! The AliExpress listing further compares the Top Speed OBDII chip to NITRO obd and ECO obd modules, and claims it works on BOTH gasoline and diesel vehicles. This reinforces our conclusion that it is a universal, one-size-fits-all scam device.
Road Test and Blink Test: Confirming the Scam
To validate our findings, we connected the Thorton Top Speed OBDII Cat Performance Chip to a vehicle and drove for the recommended 125 miles. As expected, we observed absolutely no difference in fuel economy, performance, or any other vehicle behavior. There were no noticeable gains, confirming our initial assessment. Most drivers can easily perceive a 10HP increase without specialized equipment; Thorton’s claimed 40HP gains are simply nonexistent.
To further confirm that the microcontroller’s programming is identical to the verified Nitro OBD scams, we conducted a blink test. We connected both the Thorton chip and a Nitro OBD module to a 12V power supply and observed their LED blink patterns.
Image alt text: Bench test comparison of SuperOBD scam chip and Thorton Performance Chip blink patterns, demonstrating identical LED blinking intervals.
Blink Test Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9atyTLr5KU
Both the Nitro OBD scam (left) and the Thorton Top Speed OBDII Cat Performance Chip (right) blinked at EXACTLY the same rate! Identical programming, identical blinking intervals, and the same underlying scam, masked by different colored lights.
As detailed in the original NitroOBD analyses, these scam modules can exhibit different blink patterns, designed to mimic communication with the vehicle’s OBD system. They switch between a fast “activity” blink pattern and a slower “standby” pattern, purely for show. Our tests confirmed that the Thorton chip exhibits both patterns, just like the NitroOBD scams, further proving they share the same deceptive programming.
Conclusion: Don’t Fall for the Thorton Top Speed OBDII Cat Scam
Our comprehensive research and testing unequivocally demonstrate that the Thorton Top Speed OBDII Cat Performance Chip is simply another iteration of the NitroOBD light-blinking scam. Our initial suspicions were confirmed. Do not waste your money on this product. You would be better off spending your money on a bag of potato chips – at least those deliver on their promise!
UPDATE: Thorton Superchargers – The Scam Continues
Disturbingly, the same individuals behind the Thorton Performance Chip scam appear to be operating another website, thortonsuperchargers.com. This new site uses identical logos and graphics, but claims a Tacoma, Washington address (which is actually a UPS store). While the previous site claimed a Georgia location, the design, images, and product offerings are strikingly similar. Thortonsuperchargers.com expands the scam to include an “air supercharger turbine” and other dubious accessories.
Image alt text: Thorton Superchargers website page openly promoting “NITRO PERFORMANCE CHIP” and admitting its universal, inexpensive nature.
Notably, this new website openly refers to their performance chip as the “NITRO PERFORMANCE CHIP,” directly associating it with the original NitroOBD scam. They even admit it’s “an inexpensive, universal solution,” contradicting any pretense of custom programming.
Thortonsuperchargers.com has also received a “D” rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
Image alt text: Thorton Superchargers BBB rating showing “D” grade and customer complaints regarding refunds and product issues.
Customer complaints on the BBB site report issues with refunds, ill-fitting wires, and missing parts, further solidifying the scam nature of this operation.
Image alt text: Side-by-side comparison of “About Us” pages from Thorton Performance Chip and Thorton Superchargers websites, highlighting identical layout and design elements.
Be warned: both thortonchiptuning.com and thortonsuperchargers.com are connected scams and should be avoided entirely.
If, despite all this evidence, you are still considering purchasing this product, our response is:
Image alt text: Image macro with text “Cannot understand the logic” expressing disbelief at considering purchasing the Thorton scam chip after evidence.
