Rev hang - a curse or blessing

[aquasurf]

About 7 years ago car owners, including Honda fans, started noticing that revs tended to drop very slowly when upshifting gears, making smooth gear changes painfully slow. Numerous comments appeared on various Forums devoted to different makes and models of cars with manual transmissions. Some were critical, others indifferent and few even praised this "feature" for supposedly making gear shifting and "rev matching " easier.

Range of possible explanations were offered, most commonly asserting that rev hang was somehow meant to get rid of unburnt fuel from intake manifold or cylinders. Some argued that heavy flywheel was to blame, while others insisted the rev hang was intentional to make rev matching easier for people not used to driving stick.

I spent the last 2 years examining the rev hang and experimenting with possible ways of its removal from different car models. I came to the conclusion that its introduction was indeed intentional and inevitable but not for the purpose of assisting the driver. It came about because of the need to meet the ever-tightening exhaust emission standards imposed on car manufacturers by Government clean-air agencies all over the world. I explained the intricacies of rev hang, including videos and charts in my Website devoted to the rev hang.

Car owners minding, disliking or even hating rev hang and wishing to fix their cars are being offered various "tunes" predominantly designed to increase power and improve throttle response, torque delivery/spread, drivability and provide other advertised benefits. Judging by Web responses some tuners were completely successful in eliminating the rev hang whilst others were able to reduce it somewhat. The apparent downside of "tunes" involves, aside from the cost, question marks about their impact on continued warranty of new cars modified in such a way. Regardless of what people may say, the fact remains that current OBD (on-board-diagnostics) protocols include provision for car manufacturers to detect when ECU was last flashed. It remains to be seen if and how they decide to use this facility in assessment of claims for a major engine failure, if it were to happen.

There are car owners not seeking power increases and hence not interested in "tunes", who are still annoyed by the rev hang in their cars. They have by now become almost resigned to the situation that "rev hang is a common feature in modern cars". This seems to be the prevailing attitude, judging by the diminishing number of complaints about the rev hang found online in past 2 years or so. As young people buy newer cars, they become accepting of the new way they drive, perhaps because they never experienced the delights of changing gears in a car not afflicted by the rev hang. Drivers are forced to adjust their driving style to suit their cars. I turned 60 and can say that it was never like that before. Until recently car manufacturers built cars to accommodate the needs and desires of their owners. The tables have turned, it seems.

I wonder what other Honda drivers think of the rev hang. If it bothers you, do you believe that market exists for a cheap stand-alone module designed to do nothing less and nothing more than completely remove rev hang from any car? Such module exists and is easily removable, unlocked and freely transferable between different cars.