Bosch ME17.9.11.1 Immo Off for Hyundai i20, Accent and Kia Picanto Petrol: Dumps and SMARTRA 3

Hyundai i20 1.2, 2012, towed in from a supermarket car park. Cranks, no start, immobiliser lamp flashing. The key was chewed by a dog, the spare is somewhere in a previous owner’s kitchen drawer, and the ECU label reads 39111-03700, Bosch ME17.9.11.1. The owner wants to know whether she needs a new key, a new immobiliser box, or a new ECU. The answer is none of those to start with, but it’s worth knowing what each of them would involve.

The ECU and the cars it lives in

Bosch ME17.9.11.1 is the small Tricore petrol unit Hyundai and Kia used from about 2010 on the Kappa and Gamma engines: i20 PB 1.2/1.4, late i10 PA, Accent and Solaris RB 1.4/1.6, Kia Rio UB, Picanto TA 1.0/1.25, and some Soul and Venga builds. The immobiliser is SMARTRA 3: the antenna module at the barrel holds the vehicle PIN and talks to the ECU, which holds a coded pairing.

Numbers we hold, quoted exactly from the shop listings:

• HYUNDAI I20 ME17.9.11.1 39111-03700 GAPB-CE52FS02500 IMMO OFF DUMP
• HYUNDAI I20 ME17.9.11.1 39111-03700 GAPB-CE52FS02500 DUMP
• HYUNDAI ACCENT ME17.9.11.1 39104-03330 10SW033531 GKRBKFE64FS0 DUMP
• HYUNDAI ACCENT ME17.9.11.1 39104-03005 GKRBKCE54FS03600 ECP470L 01 IMMO OFF DUMP
• KIA PICANTO ME17.9.11.1 39111-04100 EFKB20L 01FCTA BG20FS03500 DUMP

The 391xx number is the Hyundai/Kia part and the long alphanumeric string (GAPB-CE52FS02500 and the like) is the calibration ID, which is also what a scan tool shows as the software version. On the later Accent units there’s a Bosch 10SW number too. For a file to match, the calibration ID has to agree, not just the 391xx.

Does she need a new ECU?

No. The ECU is fine; it’s waiting for a valid key. Even if the SMARTRA had died, the ECU stays.

New key, then?

Yes, and on this car it’s a routine job for a key tool: the PIN comes from the dealer against the VIN or is read from the SMARTRA 3 with Zed-Full, Tango or AVDI, a blank transponder key is cut and programmed, and it starts. Immo off never enters the conversation for a road car with a working SMARTRA and a customer who can get a key made. Total cost is a fraction of an ECU.

So when is immo off the right call on ME17.9.11.1?

When the SMARTRA is dead and the car’s value doesn’t justify a replacement plus programming. When the vehicle has come from a market where the PIN can’t be obtained and no key tool will read it. When the engine’s going into a kit car or a generator. When a used ECU has been fitted and nobody can pair it (though a virgin route with the PIN is cleaner). In those cases the immo off dump removes the SMARTRA check in the ECU’s flash, and the engine starts on any key that turns the lock. It also removes the theft protection, which is worth saying out loud to the customer and writing on the invoice.

Reading and writing

ME17.9.11.1 reads through OBD with KESS V2 or Autotuner on most of these cars; the protocol has been stable for years. A dead or TPROT-locked unit goes on the bench under KTAG, Flex or FoxFlash with the Tricore adapter. A full read is under ten minutes. The immo data is in the flash rather than a separate EEPROM, so an immo off is a flash write, and the checksum is corrected in our file.

One bench note: a Picanto with 39111-04100 was written with an immo off built from a different calibration (a European EFKB20L file on a Middle East car with a different fuelling map). It started and idled, then the customer complained of surging at 2,000 rpm. Correct calibration, correct immo off, problem gone. The 391xx number is the beginning of the match, not the end.

The dumps are on the ME17.9.11.1 page and in the immo off category; for the Kia side, see the Kia brand page. Can’t see your calibration ID? Upload the read through the request form and we’ll build the file against it.