BMW’s latest “innovation” isn’t about performance or safety.

[stepheneb@ruby.social]

@iFixit

Nasty bits! But fun to think of ways to get around it.

Cheap bit: rub top of head with paste wax; apply heat to melt wax; clean sides of head; wrap sides of head with strong strapping tape to make cylinder; fill cylinder with low viscosity epoxy and when it hardens at bit embed 1/4” hex torx bit into epoxy, make sure it ends up in center and pointing straight up.

[dmian@mastodon.social]

@Loki @iFixit Remember when torx and tri-wing screws were difficult to deal with? Pepperidge Farms remembers…

[normandunbar@mastodon.scot]

@iFixit Isn't it a fact that as soon as a new "tamper proof" fixture comes out, there's a new bit kit comes out to in tamper proof it!

Why they waste their time trying to stop us maintaining our own stuff, gets on my lady bumps!

[dmian@mastodon.social]

@iFixit How do you say “Desperate idiots” im German?

[liquor_american@universeodon.com]

@iFixit I was under the impression that BMW's design choices alone were enough to block an owner's ability to do repairs

[marlena@toot.kif.rocks]

@dmian Bayrische MistWagen?

[robbe_duesseldorf@mastodon.social]

@iFixit
Just a question of time...(B)it will pop up at Alibaba in a few weeks.

[faithfulljohn@mastodon.scot]

@iFixit 🤬🤮

[caymanpilot@mastodon.social]

@iFixit
After 38 years working in biomedical equipment service I've seen all nature of pathetic tricks to prevent end user service. I even recall seeing IC chips with their ID markings abraded to become unreadable.

[sir_anders@whimsy.chat]

@iFixit a great usecase showing when dumb managers should be kept out of the loop, I’m sure bmw spent billions on tooling upgrades across their world factory’s for this stupid idea and it won’t have any practical impact, or actually companies mentioned here will profit from selling tools to fix the dumb management decisions.

EU might enforce right to repair

[hippie@ravenation.club]

@iFixit
Huh weird that the german Autoindustrie is losing share on international markets
Bunch of white old dudes evermore "improving" this 10- years obsolete technology.

[openhuman@mastodon.online]

@Hippie @iFixit Im a Product designer and i always hated over designing

[arrrg@kolektiva.social]

@iFixit most of capitalist "innovation" is just clever ways to extract more wealth from people.

[habrok42@chaos.social]

@iFixit @OhWeh @Laird_Dave Bring Mich Werkstatt

[caravantraveller@social.cologne]

@Hippie @iFixit

This is about loosening a bolt, not about losing share on markets.

Don't overlook the spelling of "to lose" and "to loosen".

[pseyfert@chaos.social]

@iFixit @WvOostveen linked in the article, yes

[oscherler@tooting.ch]

@iFixit It’s not the best time to associate yourself with adafruit. Ask SparkFun for details.

[ruurd@mastodon.social]

@iFixit @glynmoody not a screw. A screwyou.

[quikkie@infosec.exchange]

@iFixit *if* this happens the Europeans will be able to buy the tools (right to repair directive means tools will be available).

And then a Chinese shop front on Alibaba will sell bits and we are back to the same state as before.

Or it'll not happen because BMW don't want to spend the money on new duplicate tooling for their production line for an incredibly price sensitive market

[bmoreinis@federated.press]

@iFixit @futurebird Adafruit makes Microbits, little chips for students learning physical computing. Good for #adafruit!