BMW introduces proprietary screw
Appearance
In late 2025, BMW had its patent published for a new kind of screw that removed the possibility to the end user to tighten or loosen it.
Background
Introduction of proprietary screw
The incident was first reported on by CarBuzz on December 17th 2025[1] . Two days later the rest of the media followed suit.
Consumer response
A writer on an iFixit blog post noted, "At first glance, it’s almost cute: a screw head shaped exactly like the BMW logo. But the novelty wears off the moment you consider the physics. [...] Broken bits, stripped screws, and more time spent on what would otherwise be a simple task."[2]
References
- ↑ Williams, Evan (2025-12-17). "BMW Patents Proprietary Screws That Only Dealerships Can Remove". CarBuzz. Archived from the original on 2026-03-17. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
- ↑ Mokhtari, Shahram (2026-02-04). "BMW's Newest "Innovation" is a Logo-Shaped Middle Finger to Right to Repair". iFixit. Archived from the original on 2026-02-18. Retrieved 2026-03-17.