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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[–] 70 points 8 months ago (25 children)

No biggie. In less than a week we'll have thousands of Chinese Amazon sellers providing these tools to everyone for lose to.

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  • [–] 32 points 8 months ago (8 children)

    Yes, but. If they add enough "special" things you need, that will reduce the number of average people and independent mechanics that will go through the trouble of getting all the "special" tools. Thier goal isn't to stop you. It's to inconvenience enough people so that they won't bother. Which drives more business to thier shops, which in turn makes them more money. And since they are publicly traded, it doesn't even have to actually make them money. Just make the market think it might.

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  • [–] 8 points 8 months ago (7 children)

    Its all a plan. People think I'm a conspiracy nut when i explain it. I think they're dumb for not seeing it. Capitalism is the best planned scam.

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  • [–] 7 points 8 months ago (5 children)

    I tie it all into how a public company's board has a fiduciary responsability to the shareholders legally. Which means they can (and often do) get sued for doing whats best for the customer over the shareholders. It sometimes clicks with people.
    And many who don't see it aren't dumb per se. They are more or less refusing to see it because they would have to realize that they are the slaves or pawns, or cogs in the machine. And they are not in control of thier destiny. Thats a hard thing for a lot of people to swalllow. Especially since there isn't much they can do about it.

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  • [–] 5 points 8 months ago (4 children)

    You would think it should be in the company (and its shareholders) interests to make a product that people really want to buy, instead of becoming increasingly hostile to their customers.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago (3 children)

    You would, but making such a product is extremely expensive. And consumers will in general buy the cheaper not better product. Major investors know this, so spending on making a better product would actualy cause the stock price to go down. Maybe it would have paid off in the long run. But they want the stock price to go up now, not a year from now.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

    they want the stock price to go up now, not a year from now.

    That's the core of the issue. Short term focus at the expense of the long term sustainability of the entire enterprise.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago (1 child)

    I think the focus on the shareholder perceptions is the core issue. It's compounded by the short term interests of said shareholders.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago

    That short term focus causes a lot of damage to a lot of people.

    But, of course, too many shareholders are sociopathically focused on their own enrichment with absolutely zero concern for the harms thay cause to the rest of society.

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  • [–] 12 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Until you're halfway through putting in new brake pads and realize you need a specialty bit and now you're stuck without a working car until you get that Amazon package.

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  • [–] 15 points 8 months ago*

    At that point that bolt is getting destructively removed and replaced with a different bolt from the hardware store. Unless they have custom thread pitches, there's going to be an easy replacement.

    Edit but I don't own a BMW and never will, my first car was the bargainest basement commuter car and my next one will be too.

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  • [–] 18 points 8 months ago (4 children)

    Yeah, security screws are security theatre. I had an electronics screw driver set that came with a bunch of the rarer screw bits by default. Actually ran into one I didn't have, then noticed another set with that one (plus other features like the long bendy bit for hard to reach screws) next time I was in the tool section and just bought it.

    That said, I won't be needing this one. Driving a BMW would go against the image I'm trying to cultivate of not being an asshole.

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    BMW drivers have this fame of being douchebags (most absolutely are) , which makes me wonder, how the hell do we describe Tesla drivers then?

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  • [–] 14 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    It's almost, as if the article answers that question with a resounding "no, that's not going to help either."

    But the novelty wears off the moment you consider the physics. 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. The result? Broken bits, stripped screws, and more time spent on what would otherwise be a simple task.

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  • [–] 6 points 8 months ago

    neither the bit nor the screw head can withstand the torque of a standard Torx or Hex fastener

    Which "standard" Torx head? Maximum torque of 0.43Nm of a T5? Or maybe 10.5Nm of a T20? 132Nm of a T50? T60 is rated for 437Nm.

    If you need a bolt that can handle 50Nm, you put a head that's sized to that on the bolt.
    If it's a Torx, you put a T40. If it's Hex, you put an 8mm on it. And if it's a stupid BMW one, you pick the size that can handle 50Nm. The shape doesn't matter.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago (5 children)

    That would be circumventing a protection mechanism. Isn't that a violation of the DMCA in the US?

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  • [–] 10 points 8 months ago

    Yes and and violating anti-circumvention is now a crime... not a civil offense, prison. For repairing an item that you own.

    I guess that's what we, the labor class, get for not spending tens of millions of dollars on lobbyists like the Founding Fathers intended.

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  • [–] 6 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    The digital millennium copyright act? That thing that companies use to take down copyright violation videos and photos?

    I think this is more likely patent law which is not something that has ever stopped Chinese manufacturing from producing cheaper alternatives to the same concept.

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  • [–] 6 points 8 months ago

    The DMCA has a section that says (high level) it is illegal to circumvent a technological protection measure that protects copyrighted materials. DMCA was used for years to prevent farmers from repairing their John Deere's equipment themselves. They only got that 2 years ago after a legal battle. So the question is: can a fancy screw be considered a TPM?

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  • [–] 4 points 8 months ago

    DMCA is interpreted very widely.

    It criminalizes circumventing anything that could be used to protect copywritten information. So they just add copywritten stuff where it isn't needed to criminalize anything they don't want you to do. It's why washing machines now have proprietary software and circuit boards instead of mechanical switches and why printer ink cartridges have chips on board.

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