PedalMonster vs Pedal Commander

Here’s why PedalMonster is better than all other throttle controllers.

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We’ve all felt that feeling.

Why do you want a throttle controller? Picture this. You’re trying to merge onto a freeway with fast-moving traffic or pass someone doing 45 mph in the slow lane. You press on the pedal expecting the vehicle to respond, but… one, two, three. Finally, your engine decides to accelerate, and you begin to pass.

What you’ve just experienced was throttle enrichment delay. In many cases, auto manufacturers deaden the pedal’s response in an effort to increase fuel economy or smoothen the driving experience. After a period of driving a vehicle with sponge-pedal, we become accustomed to the feel. We forget what an old-school mechanical throttle linkage feels like, snappy and responsive. What you need is a throttle controller, sometimes called a throttle booster.

Drive By Wire Mush Pedal Feeling
The factory engine control module takes your throttle input and deadens it, making your pedal feel like a sponge.

There are dozens of throttle controllers on the market, like Pedal Commander, Sprint Booster, Roar Pedal, AMP’d, just to name a few. Each of them claims to be the most ADVANCED. As you’ll learn below, no throttle controller compares to Banks’ patented PedalMonster. Thanks to its OBD-II connectivity and patented safety features, Pedal Monster is better than Pedal Commander and all other throttle controllers.

Every other throttle controller on the market has no idea what vehicle you have, how fast you are going, or what gear you’ve selected. For all they know, you could be driving a lawnmower. This is because they do not connect to the OBD-II network built into your vehicle to access rich data and dedicated power.


What The Other Guys Do

How Pedal Commander and all other Throttle Boosters work.

Pedal Commander and every other throttle controller are powered by the low-current +5V pedal reference circuit. This is dangerous because…
A) There is barely enough current on this circuit to run the pedal itself, let alone an additional module.
B) If the circuit is overloaded, all pedal control is lost and the vehicle becomes a brick.

Animated chart showing just how little power is available on the 5V Pedal Circuit.

There are only about 8 milliamps of overhead before the pedal circuit fails. In many cases, this isn’t enough power to operate a pedal device.

Animation of what happens when other throttle controller devices fail or cause an error code.

When your vehicle’s computer senses an abnormal draw on this circuit, it assumes there’s a short. The ECM (engine control module) deactivates the pedal entirely, leaving you dead in the middle of the road. As if that’s not bad enough, some throttle controllers like PedalCommander have been known to cause unintended acceleration.


How PedalMonster Does It

PedalMonster OBDII advantage

When development started on PedalMonster, the first thing that we did was purchase and analyze the circuitry within Pedal Commander, Sprint Booster, and many other popular brands. It quickly became apparent just how poorly their throttle controllers were designed. Thousands of man-hours were spent researching, designing, testing, and manufacturing PedalMonster. The result is a product that stands so far ahead of the rest it was granted a U.S. Patent. Read more about PedalMonster’s inception here.


PedalMonster’s OBD-II Connected Safety Features

Animation showing Banks PedalMonster 12V OBDII safety advantage.

With a dedicated 12V connection on the OBD-II port, PedalMonster is powered by a fused connection directly to the battery. This port also provides a rich data stream that includes vehicle speed and gear. PedalMonster also knows the vehicle’s year, make, and model. Only Banks has the following patented safety features.

PedalMonster’s patented ActiveSafety features include electro-mechanical relays soldiered directly onto the board. A secondary ‘watchdog CPU’ constantly monitors the health of PedalMonster and seamlessly reverts the pedal to stock in the event of any internal or external power failure or abnormal signal.

PedalMonster knows how fast you are moving via the OBD-II connection. Because of this, PedalMonster can dial in how quickly the additional throttle sensitivity begins to kick in. We call this Low Speed Trim.

This setting is great for when you’re in slippery conditions or hauling a trailer and you don’t want to jerk your load around. Or, if you have a manual or a high-horsepower streetcar, you can dial in your power delivery out-of-the-hole so you don’t light up the tires leaving every stop sign.

PedalMonster knows what gear you are in by reading the unique OBD-II protocol used by each vehicle manufacturer. With Reverse Safety, your throttle sensitivity returns to stock whenever you back up. No one wants to launch backward out of their garage or try to turn their truck into a submarine at the boat ramp.


Doing a Throttle Controller Right

Sure Pedal Commander, Roar Pedal, Sprint Booster, and the other throttle boosters can increase your throttle sensitivity and have different drive modes. But all they really do is just boost to your throttle’s ‘volume knob’ in a linear fashion, nothing more. Without the rich data and vehicle information found on the OBD-II network, they can’t add that sensitivity intelligently based on speed or gear. When you stack up and review the unique and patented features that the Banks PedalMonster offers, the choice is clear. No other throttle booster on the market can touch PedalMonster’s reliability, fail-proof safety, and automatic convenience features. This truly makes PedalMonster the most intelligent, sophisticated, and advanced throttle controller available. And it’s the only one that is 100% designed, manufactured, and shipped from right here in America.

After installing a PedalMonster, every driver has the same reaction. “It feels like an entirely new vehicle!”

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PedalMonster is available for hundreds of cars and trucks, gas and diesel. Find one for your vehicle!