Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Benvo
SeniorFunkyPants also makes a very valid point two post above. In fact, this is probably one of the most important aspects of this.
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I don't think so: The obligation to have an OBD port initially referred to the emissions regulations (in the U.S. from 1991) and the EU only adopted this. Meanwhile,
there is an obligation to have EOBD, but that is SAE J1962, used to read fault codes. In the EU, the mandatory emission tests are aborted if a fault code indicates that something is wrong with the engine.
There is no legal obligation to supply an unprotected means to pair a key to a car via proprietary CAN-bus protocols, this would be ridiculous, even in the over-regulated EU.
IMO, BMW has a long-standing tradition of using software mechanisms iff they fit their needs: they use cryptography (not 100% secure, granted) to protect their assets and they fight hardware deficiencies by masking them with software measures (remember the dreaded "turbo lag" problem when they just opened the wastegates in order to keep them from rattling instead of fixing the actuator arms? One
of the longest threads ever here on Bimmerpost was about this. Also, they re-programmed the high end individual audio amplifier with less kick-bass to prevent badly installed bass speakers from vibrating).
When it comes to protecting their customers' cars from theft, they probably are just less inventive... as I said: honi soit qui mal y pense.
And still no word from BMW,
apart from the UK.