[jotachin]

I recently took in my F30 to have a wiper malfunction investigated, as the wipers had been in a constant 'on' state whenever the car was on. This left small scratches on the windscreen which I had asked the BMW technicians to buff out. I was later told that the damage to the windscren that the malfunction had caused was not covered under my 1 year approved used warranty, despite the fact the issue occured within a month of recieving the car.

I was later told that BMW would replace a unit behind the steering wheel responsible for the wiper fault, which I agreed to. I was called after the procedure was complete and the service partner told me that the technician had carried out a software update before confirming with me, which had detected bootleg FSC codes that I had installed for carplay and not only wiped them off, but it cleared the codes for the stock navigation and voice control features that came with the car.

BMW now wants £400 from me for a new navigation certificate in order to reactivate the nav and voice control. I accepted the liability for the loss of the carplay that I installed myself as it wasn't covered by warranty, however I asked them to return the state of my car to what it was before I gave it to them and they said this will not be possible without paying for a new nav codes. I was offered a reduced price of £280 after much haggling.

The car went in for a windscreen repair and came out with missing features and a £400 bill. The service partner didn't seem to understand why I was upset when he told me he had essentially bricked my idrive system. Do I have any sort of leverage to ask for my car to be returned to the same state as it was, since they didn't make me aware of the software update before they did it?

[Homersbud]

you have to accept the fact that any time you go to a dealer, they are going to update the car with latest i-step no matter what you bring the car in for especially if they are going to do any type of work. standard practice.

you have no leverage at all. don’t pay them for fsc, get them the same way you did before and import them yourself at a much cheaper cost but there is no way they can return it to what it was prior unless you pay them which i wouldnt.

good luck.

[TX552]

Yup. Don’t bring it to dealer for any work if you have these mods. Try to fix it yourself if at all possible.

[Skyhigh]

I am failing to understand...

cleared the codes for the stock navigation and voice control features that came with the car...

Any out of factory features should be retained with software updates! If those were factory speced features, you can absolutely argue they should bring them back at own cost as these features are part of the original vehicle spec. I don't understand what you mean by "clear the codes for..." ... what codes!?

If you (or a previous owner) added those features, similarly to carplay, well - BMW are not liable for any "hacks" someone did. And I don't think you can expect them to ask you before any action they take in attempt to resolve the problem you asked them to address. A full software update is the first thing the dealer would do in an attempt to resolve a weird issue such as with your wipers. Makes sense as well.

[jotachin]

Originally Posted by Skyhigh

I am failing to understand...


Any out of factory features should be retained with software updates! If those were factory speced features, you can absolutely argue they should bring them back at own cost as these features are part of the original vehicle spec. I don't understand what you mean by "clear the codes for..." ... what codes!?

If you (or a previous owner) added those features, similarly to carplay, well - BMW are not liable for any "hacks" someone did. And I don't think you can expect them to ask you before any action they take in attempt to resolve the problem you asked them to address. A full software update is the first thing the dealer would do in an attempt to resolve a weird issue such as with your wipers. Makes sense as well.

I assume because I activated carplay using a fake FSC code, the fake code was detected when they ran the software update and hence wiped off along with any nav subscription and voice activation certificates.

As I have 11 months of Approved Used warranty left over, I’m tempted to give BMW the money for the new nav subscription as this will leave my warranty intact.

I’m also debating just paying a third party for a fraction of the price, as the BMW rep i asked said that in the future i can tell them not to update the software in order to prevent the fake codes being wiped off in any future services.

[Skyhigh]

You can always request them not to update any software on the car, yes. That’s entirely up to you. But if you come with a problem (and want it repaired under warranty) you can’t really have a cake and eat it too….

[steve@codemybimmer]

Sounds more like they took your car hostage and extorted you out of £280.

I'd file a complaint at BMW UK because you should have the right to decline those repairs and collect the vehicle back in its current state.

If you use Feature Installer to activate CarPlay, you can simply just rerun the app and it'll bring it back to its custom state with CarPlay and Nav active.