[Mattt1]

One of my minor niggles, mainly due to the way that BMW have worded it - is that 'for privacy reasons' they won't let you locate the vehicle if you're more than 1.5km away.

This is frustrating for a number of reasons, so I complained to BMW:

Originally Posted by I

One thing that particularly annoys me is the refusal to provide the location of the car via the BMW Remote App if you’re more than a few miles away ‘due to privacy reasons’. I am the owner and driver of the car, I have no privacy concerns about me being able to access the location of my car – or in which area of the town or airport parking location I have parked it.

Please can you confirm why, with reference to any specific legislation, you disable this otherwise easily available functionality?

Additionally, please can you confirm that in the event of the vehicle being stolen, that BMW have procedures in place to enable full co-operate with the Police to locate the vehicle?

Originally Posted by BMW

I acknowledge your dissatisfaction regarding the location service through the BMW Remote Apps for your vehicle. On behalf of BMW UK, I would like to apologise for any inconvenience that this is causing.

I can advise that the location service is in place to identify where a vehicle is within a 1500 metre radius and is not a tracking service. I can advise that due to the Privacy Law we are unable to disable this function. Should you wish to be able to track your vehicle, we would recommend that you have a tracking device fitted.

I note your comment regarding if the vehicle was stolen. I can advise that we would work closely with the police if we were contacted however, as previously advised the location service should not be relied upon as a tracker.

Originally Posted by I

Please can you advise to what 'Privacy Law' you refer in the reasoning behind this restriction in functionality?

I would hope that this restriction is not placed on the vehicles so as to increase the revenue of Dealerships when selling aftermarket tracking devices, which would essentially offer the same functionality.

I await their response...

[Mr_JD]

BMW will cooperate with the police in the event of theft but don't expect it to happen quickly or for it to be widely known.

It's not a tracker, although it could be providing the sim isn't jammed or removed from the car by the thief, it's a by-product of other services.

[....,,,,..,,..]

Expect the sim to remain in the car about 2 mins after being stolen.

[F30Andy]

Where is the SIM in the car located?

I have "will do the job" business nav.

I'm assuming this is a pro nav thing?

[SkyJawa]

I thought someone on here had their car stolen and they ignored even the police, but gave in eventually......?

[SilverFox335D]

That was me back in the summer.. Both BMW and the boys in blue were slow regrettably. It worked in the end though. I think BMW were paranoid about privacy (which is effing frustrating when it's my privacy and they still refuse to help) and the police are just overworked and under resourced..
Considered solution for me is a cheap pay as you go I phone hidden in the car and do your own "find my phone"
Re coding the "find my car" has also been tried by MarkG335 I think. Not sure of his final conclusion as to its efficiency.

[essjay21271]

I thought this "1.5km" restriction could be coded out.

[NISFAN]

Originally Posted by essjay21271

I thought this "1.5km" restriction could be coded out.

I would be surprised if it is a function of the car. AFAIK, your phone requests the location from BMW services. BMW services interrogates the car GPS remotely, then sends the information back to your phone. It is BMW services that compares your location vs Car location and restricts if distance >1500m.

[Mattt1]

I tried the other day turning off location services on my phone but the app then refused to work at all.

[xenon]

Yes not a coding thing - the location of the car is known by BMW but they will only update the app on your phone if both are within 1.5Km of each other. It's bloody stupid and makes it ultimately pointless.

[Lorcan]

It's a bit odd that this "privacy law" doesn't extend to the tracker devices that BMW recommend.

I have previously heard of cheap phones hard-wired into a door panel (or somewhere discreet), set to silent and located using the findaphone app being successful in retrieving a vehicle.

[Buster Blue]

Originally Posted by Lorcan

It's a bit odd that this "privacy law" doesn't extend to the tracker devices that BMW recommend.

I have previously heard of cheap phones hard-wired into a door panel (or somewhere discreet), set to silent and located using the findaphone app being successful in retrieving a vehicle.

Cant remember who but someone on here has done it

[magic77]

Raised the same issue with BMW and they want budget seems the "car" has privacy laws. The best thing is they claim they dont have the data. Right so how can they determine you are out of the 1.5km range. Its a simple coding on the service. Fact is the car has to report all the time where it is so they can verify you are in range. Crazy but not much you can do about it.


To make things worse just discored the horn on the F30 is live with ignition off unlike in E90 when you had to have ignintion on. Which makes fitting a steering wheel lock a total pain as you keep sounding the horn

[xenon]

If you open the driver's door does it disable the horn then?

[magic77]

Was trying put a stop lock on the car and had the driver door open and closed, tried both and still goes off.

[MarkG_M5Comp]

Originally Posted by NISFAN

I would be surprised if it is a function of the car. AFAIK, your phone requests the location from BMW services. BMW services interrogates the car GPS remotely, then sends the information back to your phone. It is BMW services that compares your location vs Car location and restricts if distance >1500m.

You can code something like 'stolen vehicle recovery' or something. I did it and got the location (around 5 miles away) a couple of times - the rest of the time I get the 1.5KM message.

So all I can think is that it's server driven and perhaps I got lucky few times (connected to another server with different policy?) - either way it's unreliable.

[magic77]

Its got to be its lawyers gone mad. If you own the car it should be up to you to choose if you want the 1.5k or unlimited tracking

[johno]

Originally Posted by magic77

Its got to be its lawyers gone mad. If you own the car it should be up to you to choose if you want the 1.5k or unlimited tracking

It's not lawyers it's accountants. They want to sell you a tracker, not provide it for free. As Lorcan said - how come trackers don't fall foul of this mythical privacy law?

[magic77]

true thought probably both. You can just see a lawsuit because someone got fired, divorced as the system showed them somewhere else then they where

[NISFAN]

Originally Posted by johno

It's not lawyers it's accountants. They want to sell you a tracker, not provide it for free. As Lorcan said - how come trackers don't fall foul of this mythical privacy law?

Very cynical view. I doubt BMW sell many trackers at all, so can't see this as being some profit protection racket myself.

My view would be that the device is not classed as a 'tracker' as it is perhaps not designed/secure/reliable enough for that purpose. If it was I'm sure BMW would list it as such. They would get a great insurance rating reduction which would lead to higher car sales.

About Privacy, when you fit a third party tracker, you are consenting to the potential loss in privacy. You don't expect that automatically when buying a car. Yes sure they could manage that with consent forms, blah, blah, but not worth the hassle to implement such a policy. A third party tracking company is also geared up for the tight privacy policies, a car manufacturer isn't.

Picture this, company employee can have a BMW with an automatic tracker that his boss can access 24/7 or some other car without this feature. Which would the employee choose?

Yes most on here would like it to be enabled for unlimited distance. I might want to check my car is still parked at the airport from time to time whilst on holiday abroad, but not really the end of the world that I can't. Whilst I'm sure the trophy wife with a brand new bought for her BMW might not want her husband to know she is screwing the tennis coach. Not a good solution for all is it?

[Pablo68]

The law to which they refer is Geman and EU.

Yes technically it's more than doable but it's an absolute legal minefield and IMHO BMW would be mad to allow it (legally) as they would be open to an awful lot of potential lawsuits depending on where the car was and where you were.

Also they don't guarantee it as a tracking service and would (again) be open to potential litigation if for instance the SIM was removed or failed to register on a roaming network after being stolen and they couldn't track it.

Se we have to accept it is therefore no more than a free "Where did I park my car?" service and not a full blown EU wide vehicle tracking solution. (Of which there are plenty available).


Equally there are many other systems and services we buy (or get given) that are artificially limited for commercial reasons. Do you complain that technically the £30 per month Sky Basic Package could have all the movies and sports on it so why do Sky charge for them extra? Or you mobile phone contract could technically allow unlimited 4G and calls for £5 per month so why do you have to pay for extra?

Technically my 335i could have > 400bhp but it doesn't. BMW have chosen that should I want that I need to purchase an M3 instead...maybe I should ring them and complain??

[NISFAN]

^^^^ +1