Patent ID: 8554437

Claim:
A vehicle control system, comprising: a control module, the control module controlling a vehicle in accordance with at least one parameter of vehicle operation; an external port, the external port electrically communicating with the control module; a parameter control device having memory configured to store information indicative of a number of uses left in the parameter control device, the parameter control device being selectively connected to the external port to enable electrical communication between the control module and the parameter control device; wherein the parameter control device and control module cooperate to modify the at least one parameter, the parameter control device having a predetermined limitation encoded therein on the number of control modules for which it can modify the at least one parameter, the memory of the parameter control device is configured to change the information in the memory in response to the control module having been modified, and the parameter control device and the control module are configured to cooperate to modify the at least one parameter upon connection to the external port in response to the vehicle control module being in a predetermined mode.