Celica Forums General Discussion General Drive By Wire

I understand that 03 and up Celica GTS models are equipped with a drive by wire system for throttle (eliminating the need for a throttle cable). Are any other systems controlled by DBW, such as braking? Also, what is the reliability of such a system versus traditional methods of function control?

Not sure but I did hear that it's not that good when trying to add high performance items. So I will be going with just probably a TPR or TRD intake and exhaust. You will get an answer here quick by others tho

looks like you were wrong about those quick responses, iggy. the DBW requires a different throttle body, i believe, which is not very receptive to forced induction add ons

the 2003 DBW is for the throttle. Instead of a physical cable attaching to your throttle body, an electric signal is sent to a control module housed on the throttle body.

as far as reliabilty goes, I would prefer the cable since all electrical parts could have glitches or problems at somepoint where as a cable is mechanical and is just always there.

also becuase the ecu is controlling the throttle no aftermarket systems are available and it also makes things like goin turbo very complicated. Unless they switch to an earlier style, the 2003-2005 celicas will always be stuck to simple bolt ons or nitrous for power.

Why is it that going Turbo is a problem on DBW cars?

because you are forcing air in so the cpu might want to shut it down early and throw a cel light on

so its looking like 2001 celicas were the best year

at least as far as the GTS is concerned, but i'm not sure if the GT got DBW or not.

GT never got the DBW.


um nooooo, There isn't any very good tuning options available. I know SF has a kit out for the 2003 but it doesnt make enough power yet. you cant use a power fc and nothing else works too good.


So, yes you can turbo a 2003, we have one on our team. You just wont make as much power as a 2000-2002 model.

Man that sucks! , damn Toyota.

What is a DBW and what does it effect us?

DBW = Drive By Wire

your throttle is controlled electronically instead of the traditional throttle cable.

...soooo?? Sorry, does this mean that if the wire has no power going to it, you can't drive it? Like the digital display instead of analog display on our HUD's?

^ no, the above posts explain it. But basically your throtle position isn't controled by a cable but is "sensed" by electrical signals. Without the throttle cable everything is done with the ECU of the car. So you can't swap out the ECU with something like the Power FC because, viola, your car won't run. As a result it's hard to properly tune the car to maximize a mod like a turbo or supercharger because you don't have much recourse for fuel to air tinkering and such.

Uh, last I checked, Your car wouldnt start without power even if it was a rolls royce.

without power you wont be going no where DBW or not so I wouldnt worry yourself too much about that

sorry, meant that if it somehow (is it possible?) for it to have a circuit short out (like the HUD can) would it stop the car from working at all.

Almost all the German cars have drive-by-wire now, and you can get Force Induction upgrades on those easily...so we just gotta wait a bit longer I guess before we can run our DBW Celicas on boost with no problems. Just have to wait until one of the big players in the aftermarket world lands a 2003 project car.

^^^ yes you are right about most Bavarian cars running DBW and have options for FI.
Toyota and the Celica is a different story.
The aftermarket for our cars has landed and staked their claim and DBW seems to be a bit of a nuisance for most of them.