this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2026
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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
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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.

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[–] x00z@lemmy.world 6 points 19 hours ago

It's more nuanced. If even 1 of these screws is used for something that might ever need repairing, BMW mechanics will need to get the tool to be able to provide full support. It might even be possible that official BMW mechanics will be required to use the proprietary tool and are not allowed to use knock offs.