this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2026
722 points (97.8% liked)

Technology

81208 readers
4258 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
L3s@lemmy.world
enu@lemmy.world
technopagan@lemmy.world
L4s@lemmy.world
L3s@hackingne.ws
722
BMW’s Newest “Innovation” is a Logo-Shaped Middle Finger to Right to Repair (www.ifixit.com)
submitted 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) by Beep@lemmus.org to c/technology@lemmy.world
112 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Adafruit: From Ultimate Driving Machine to Ultimate Rent-Seeking Machine: The BMW Logo Screw Patent.

If you haven’t already heard, BMW’s R&D teams have been busy “innovating.” Unfortunately, they aren’t focusing on the things that actually matter—like stellar engine performance or the legendary driving dynamics that gearheads love. Instead, the C-suite execs decided that the best use of their engineering budget was to design a proprietary security screw specifically intended to prevent BMW drivers from fixing their own cars.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz 6 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

It's not their right to decide if I get to work on my own property.

[–] skozzii@lemmy.ca 1 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

If you cant figure out how to get past this screw you shouldn't be working on things. Mechanics have a million speciality tools, what's one more little bit, doesn't affect us the slightest.

[–] LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz 2 points 15 hours ago

So when I'm working on my car, and find I need to find a specialty bit to undo a single screw, and they don't sell it anywhere in town and I have to wait 2-3 days for shipping (or 2-3 weeks if I order from overseas) then it's fine cause I shouldn't be working on my car myself?

Is this a BMW bot?

What happened to the right to own and maintain my own property?

[–] Iconoclast@feddit.uk 0 points 19 hours ago

Well, they don't in this case either - they just add an extra step to it. You can buy a bit like that off eBay.