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The heated seat hardware isn't expensive, the blocks can be bought for about $15/chair second hand on their e90 range. I highly doubt it costs BMW any more than

The heated seat hardware isn't expensive, the blocks can be bought for about $15/chair second hand on their e90 range. I highly doubt it costs BMW any more than a couple of months of the rental cost and I strongly suspect over the life of a car they will get at least a couple of months rent and justify the cost. I, for one, welcome this change. BMW makes retrofit kits for everything because they know people want features that aren't in their spec and they're very expensive. I buy old, second hand cars and I'm at the mercy of the original buyer when it comes to features included. This way, not only do I get the option of a feature that was never bought, but I can enable it only for the couple of months I'd actually need it. Or better yet, I'll do what I do with everything I own and hack it, unlocking everything I can.

Tildey 4y ago
Bold of you to assume they will still have the working cloud infrastructure for you to enable that in 20 years
- HyprMusic 4y ago
  That's not how it currently works. The car's spec is stored on a central database and set in the specific modules when the car is first produced. You only lose the customised VO codes when you update a module (not a common thing to do, even for car modders) but even then you can often convince a dealer to add your retrofit's VO code to the central database. I strongly suspect that the subscription will piggy-back off of this infrastructure and the subscription will set/unset the VO codes. BMW are fantastic with parts and supporting older car maintenance. Even now I can order 20 year old parts (including electronic modules) new from BMW.
rlpb 4y ago
> Or better yet, I'll do what I do with everything I own and hack it, unlocking everything I can. The problem comes when the manufacturer starts demanding legal "protection" against people hacking their own possessions, or sharing technical information about their possessions.
- HyprMusic 4y ago
  It already exists. All their part documentation, all the dealer software, software to unlock ECUs, remove engine restrictions to get an additional 50bhp, Android apps to unlock features.. it's all widely available on dedicated websites and they've done nothing to stop it. The only thing they have ever stopped being shared is their TIS manuals which are incredibly expensive service manuals that they sell to dealers. But even in that case, they agreed to look the other way as long as the providers of the TIS manuals only let them be accessed by existing users. BMW have bundled features you can't access for a long term, and modders have been enabling them for a long time. Just look up the 328i to 330i tuning software for an example, you can use free software (bimmerlabs.com) to derestrict your engine to same power as the next model (it's the same engine, just restricted).
Nullabillity 4y ago
If it's cheap enough to always include then it's cheap enough to always turn on.

Tildey 4y ago

Bold of you to assume they will still have the working cloud infrastructure for you to enable that in 20 years

HyprMusic 4y ago
That's not how it currently works. The car's spec is stored on a central database and set in the specific modules when the car is first produced. You only lose the customised VO codes when you update a module (not a common thing to do, even for car modders) but even then you can often convince a dealer to add your retrofit's VO code to the central database. I strongly suspect that the subscription will piggy-back off of this infrastructure and the subscription will set/unset the VO codes. BMW are fantastic with parts and supporting older car maintenance. Even now I can order 20 year old parts (including electronic modules) new from BMW.

rlpb 4y ago

> Or better yet, I'll do what I do with everything I own and hack it, unlocking everything I can. The problem comes when the manufacturer starts demanding legal "protection" against people hacking their own possessions, or sharing technical information about their possessions.

HyprMusic 4y ago
It already exists. All their part documentation, all the dealer software, software to unlock ECUs, remove engine restrictions to get an additional 50bhp, Android apps to unlock features.. it's all widely available on dedicated websites and they've done nothing to stop it. The only thing they have ever stopped being shared is their TIS manuals which are incredibly expensive service manuals that they sell to dealers. But even in that case, they agreed to look the other way as long as the providers of the TIS manuals only let them be accessed by existing users. BMW have bundled features you can't access for a long term, and modders have been enabling them for a long time. Just look up the 328i to 330i tuning software for an example, you can use free software (bimmerlabs.com) to derestrict your engine to same power as the next model (it's the same engine, just restricted).

Nullabillity 4y ago

If it's cheap enough to always include then it's cheap enough to always turn on.