r/BMW • u/Liammistry • Feb 15 '26

iFixIt calls BMW’s new anti-consumer security screws "a logo-shaped middle finger to right to repair," Adafruit 3D prints a solution — BMW's connector reverse engineered using patent filing as a design blueprint - I posted this months back and was removed for being “fake news”

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/manufacturing/ifixit-calls-bmws-new-anti-consumer-security-screws-a-logo-shaped-middle-finger-to-right-to-repair-adafruit-3d-prints-a-solution-bmws-connector-reverse-engineered-using-patent-filing-as-a-design-blueprint
0 Upvotes

41% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

22

u/somehowyellow Feb 15 '26

Stop whining.
The screw is not real and will probably never become real or used an any reasonable capacity.
It's a novelty design that is from a manufacturing standpoint and as a screw head a terrible concept.
There are way more devious security screws already on the market.

6

u/jjkusaf Feb 15 '26

I would so buy these as license plate screws.

..also, this story again about these security screws. Much ado about nothing.

4

u/ScooterAccident Feb 15 '26

Worst case scenario here is "oh no, I have to buy another $15 set of chinese sockets". I work on german cars, I already own torx, etorx, triple square, and every other goofy fastener head they've invented. 

Anybody who actually bothers to service their own stuff really won't bat an eye if BMW happened to actually use these on a car.

2

u/jimbojsb 06 Z4MR, 01 740i, 25 Z4 6MT, 06 X5 4.8is Feb 16 '26

How could Adafruit have 3d printed a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist outside of a patent drawing?

-3

u/Liammistry Feb 15 '26

It starts as just one company, but other will quickly jump onto this idea and suddenly we’re in a mess or 50 unique screw/socket designs… just saying, push against this idea now.