diff --git a/selfdrive/modeld/dmonitoringmodeld.cc b/selfdrive/modeld/dmonitoringmodeld.cc
index c987e44482..e39fba1689 100644
--- a/selfdrive/modeld/dmonitoringmodeld.cc
+++ b/selfdrive/modeld/dmonitoringmodeld.cc
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ static void set_do_exit(int sig) {
 
 int main(int argc, char **argv) {
   int err;
-  set_realtime_priority(1);
+  set_realtime_priority(51);
 
   // messaging
   SubMaster sm({"dMonitoringState"});
diff --git a/selfdrive/modeld/modeld.cc b/selfdrive/modeld/modeld.cc
index 5404f61b3c..7206f5a9e8 100644
--- a/selfdrive/modeld/modeld.cc
+++ b/selfdrive/modeld/modeld.cc
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ void* live_thread(void *arg) {
 
 int main(int argc, char **argv) {
   int err;
-  set_realtime_priority(1);
+  set_realtime_priority(51);
 
   // start calibration thread
   pthread_t live_thread_handle;