BMW’s latest “innovation” isn’t about performance or safety.

Daniele Pantaleo 🦥:verified:

@iFixit
"Because this head prioritizes branding over utility, neither the bit nor the screw head can withstand the torque of a standard Torx or Hex fastener."

Calling it, the main usage will be engine shrouding, so to deter entering the engine bay at sight.

And it'll be so fragile on purpose so to deny warranty claims after the first visit to an independent mechanic.

David Scott Moyer

@iFixit Every mechanic who works on BMWs will have the necessary bit in weeks. If this is really an attempt to keep people from repairing their vehicles, it is pretty dumb.

Loki

@iFixit 10 weeks and you can buy this bit at Ali Express and temu…

Sorry, but times are different today, you can’t f… around like this anymore

waldi

@iFixit I hope that at least the threads are standard. Use some force and you have a flat head driving slot added to them. Later replace with standard screw.

Mensch, Marina

@iFixit we need right to repair for everything by Independent Services

BoneHo-ho-houseWasps🔶🇬🇧🇪🇺

@jackeric @iFixit

? Offline

@iFixit

BMW? Isn't that the company where you pay extra for heated seats and than have to pay a montly rent extra to use them?

Mr. Lance E Sloan (IRL) 👤

@iFixit
How effective are screw extraction bits on the BMW screw? Once the screw is out, replace it with an ordinary one with the same threads and length.

nicolaottomano

@iFixit BMW is basically dying. I don't see new BMWs on my way to work. They started with a subscription-based seat heather, yet developing ad idiotic patented screw.
Compared to more innovative car makers (chinese ones on top of all), they look like Blackberry or Nokia when the first iPhone was unveiled.

Jaime Robertson

@iFixit
When faced with something like this I get the dremel out and cut a notch in it, then get it out with a flat screwdriver.
Worked on my former MINI (a BMW), with torx screws on the tail light cover, didn't have bit for them at the time.

gwentlarry

@iFixit

Car manufacturers keep trying this sort of thing. The 6-point Torx srew/bolt head of the 1960s was such an attempt. That didn't last long as something only "approved" car repair technicians could access.

TrimTab 🇺🇦

@iFixit Capitalist free markets need wise regulation. It shouldn't be legal to innovate for the purpose of blocking interoperability or entrapping customers. Corporations HATE free markets because true competition is hard and profits are slimmer. External force is required.

Absent regulation to establish rules to protect society, free markets must race towards monopoly, corruption, and enshitification. Regulated markets can work - uncontrolled markets foaters Lord of the Flies conditions.

EndicottRoad59

@iFixit Not surprised. There's money to be made in repairs. BIG money.

Peter H. Fröhlich

@iFixit They took out a PATENT to protect the shape of their NUTS? These people are so amazingly insecure, it boggles the mind not only of psychiatrists but also of just regular old engineers.

Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar

@iFixit Perhaps the German car industry isn't as worthy of saving as Ursula vdL thinks.

UkeleleEric

@Loki @iFixit yes, but how good will those bits be, and how likely to cause a stripped screw, which will then prove warranty denied...

UkeleleEric

@sloanlance @iFixit wouldn't be surprised if there was something nonstandard about the thread direction, pitch or depth.

UkeleleEric

@phf @iFixit actually, considering the other slang use of the term 'nuts', this is exactly what they are doing - it's a load of b... Nuts.

Piggo :verified_horse:

@yngmar @iFixit I think this stupid screw can be trivially defeated worth pointy pliers

Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar

@piggo @iFixit I'm not sure what's more offending, the stupid anti-repair design or the horrendous quality of the depicted threads.