Remember kids, every screw is a flathead with an angle grinder
this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2026
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There is a really, really simple solution to this problem. This might sound crazy, but hear me out. Maybe don't buy their cars? Not like there's a lack of competition.
Looks like a future stripped screw nightmare waiting to happen
Has BMW every done anything for the consumer?
Well, it will prevent me from ever considering purchase of such a boobie trap.
I like to fix or upgrade people's PCs here and there. I always tell people not to buy HP. There are 100 reasons, but one big one is they won't just use regular fucking screws.
WTF are you talking about? They use Philips or torx.
Why is it repost weekend this weekend? Feels like half of my feed sorted by active is reposts.
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No biggie. In less than a week we'll have thousands of Chinese Amazon sellers providing these tools to everyone for lose to.
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.
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.
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.
This is the only focus on the ultra wealthy market, let the wanna be people pay too much, and fuck the rest of the low profit margin people.
Good news is this how you get a French/Russian Revolution. Eventually.
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.
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.
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.
That would be circumventing a protection mechanism. Isn't that a violation of the DMCA in the US?
No. It is a physical item. So long as 5here is no branding it would be fine
Amazon does not want to enforce this. By the time one seller is banned, 10 new accounts sell the same thing again.
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.
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.
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?
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.
"specifically intended to prevent BMW drivers from fixing their own cars."
Give me a break.
I hate to break it to people but every manufacturer has a lot of brand specific tools. You need a special socket for Toyota head bolts, 10 point sockets for Honda suspensions, a special multipoint socket for Audis, a special socket for Mercedes lug nuts and it's good to have a 21.5mm for Fords. 5 point security torx are starting to pop up on GMs.
That's just an example of a few sockets, the deeper you go into a car, the higher the possibility that you need a $400 special tool or kit for a specific manufacturer, or even specific year or engine.
Sure, they can afford a luxury foreign automobile, but one particular drill bit? We're not made of money!
I also highly doubt this screw is made with intention to keep users out of repairing their cars. I guarantee they are dress ups for engine bay/ interior. Having the bmw logo along panel screws looks far more puff than a bunch of torx screws. Every car requires either special tools or special software to work on, NO exceptions in modern vehicles. You cannot truly clear error codes from a Chrysler without a subscription to their gateway and internet access. You can go in limp mode where there's no service and ur 3k autel scanner won't help you without wifi as it cannot connect to the gateway. I don't give a crap about special fasteners that's the name of the game, my gripes are what they do on the computer side of things to lock you out. Right to repair just means you have the right to pay dealer networks thousands a year for the privilege of accessing your own modules on ur car with your scanner. What a fucking racket.
Doesn't BMW already use a lot of proprietary screws?
I think they just patented it because the system rewards patent trolls with thousands of patents, even if they have no intention to ever use said patent.
This is unpractical and will cost them more (replace all the tooling, rethink supply chain) than it will supposedly make them (rich customers would go to official repairs anyway, and poor customers will just get a copy from aliexpress)
As soon as the rollout for BMW dealers starts, Chinese toolmakers will churn out compatible bits and screwdrivers. They might even be on the market before the BMW dealers have them in the mail.
Every dollar store has a variety pack of “security screw” drivers
You could almost manufacture it based on this image, granted that's a 1/4" impact bit. All it would take is one bolt being smuggled to their factory or one photograph of a spec sheet.
Unless im missing something about the design, theres a fairly common bit already on the market that works for this, and Id assume most auto shops already have laying around. My dewalt 50 piece came with one...
Bit looks like
( https://share.google/KHdg0HfO6zC9bab9O)
That one of those 2 pin spanner wrencheswith one on an arm that swings to adjust size, as far as asshole design security screws go, im not too mad at this... accomplishes what it needs to (keeping some rando with a screwdriver in his pocket from just deciding to undo some exposed screws for 'fun', or stealing your car trim) without being so proprietary pwople who arent preppared can't undo it with tools at hand (like the apple Pentalobe screws, and various triangle and tritip Philips variants, really anything with an odd number of contact points is immediatly more of a pita)
Ouch with that google share link
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If BMW truly wants to innovate, they should work on fixing their turn signals. They must always be in a state of disrepair, because I rarely see a BMW driver use them....
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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.
Ugh.
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Have they actually used it anywhere or just have the patent? Because I expect they won't actually use it anywhere, like with Sony's (IIRC) patent where you have to shout "McDonald's!" after watching an ad. Though I wouldn't be too surprised if they actually use it
It's not like it's going to prevent people from working on their cars, either. It's probably just for decorative purposes.
That's what's often missing from stories about patents: big companies churn out patents in case they ever need to use them in patent warfare against competitors. For the sole reason that the competitors are doing the same thing.
However, I doubt it that BMW would ever have a chance to use this particular patent on a competitor.
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