BMW’s Heated Seats as a Service Model Has Drivers Seeking Hacks

It isn't new that carmakers don't give customers access to their full potential. In the 1960s, the American car market was so competitive that manufacturers launched new models every year. There could be new paint colors and more performance. Adding baffles and restrictors and maybe a smaller carburetor helped them achieve this by building a 300 bhp engine. They gained power each time they removed one of the restrictions.

The same thing is happening today in a modern way. When the Nissan GTR was first launched, it had about 480 bhp. The only thing Nissan did was raise the boost 0.1 bar at a time. They would say the exhaust was changed but it was the boost that made the difference. It is simpler than that sometimes. The first thing I want to know is if the car is an R8 Plus or C63 S. It's probably the easiest performance upgrade of all time.

The business of retrospective tuning is changing as a result of Dieselgate. If Bosch changed the password on one of the three ways to get in, you still had two other ways to get in. The emissions defeat code which led to Dieselgate was discovered by Bosch and they have createdECUs that can only be accessed with a secured key. The latest BMW M cars are some of the first to use the newECUs.

Over-the-air-updates are one of the issues. The connected car is in touch with the factory to get updates for satnav and similar. It could be reset to factory specification, too, overwriting any engine tuning or options unlocks that haven't come through the manufacturer or its subscription service.

There is a BMW heated-seat subscription. Only a few BMWs do not have heated seats as standard, but you can check through the specifications. If you tick the box for a heated steering wheel on a 1-series, it will be less expensive than a three-year subscription.

The ConnectedDrive Store in the UK gives customers the opportunity to add features they didn't order when the vehicle was built.

Maybe BMW sees this as the first step to changing the idea of paying for hardware and software features. In the future, we won't own cars but will have a car subscription that will allow us to have an appropriate everyday car and request a larger one for long trips, holidays, and the like, or a sporty one for fun, according to some predictions. The idea of paying for only the features you want seems right-headed.