How to turn REx off?

[WoodlandHills]

It IS coded in the software, if you bought your i3 in NA. If you can turn on your REx whenever you want and you haven't already coded your car, then you don't have a CARB compliant NA vehicle and the point is moot.
BTW, if a coding warranty case involving the REx ever went to court, the technical merits would be irrelevant: either the warranty permits coding or it does not. The benefits or drawbacks of the change in question are secondary as far as the warranty goes, you have to be legally able to make changes in the first place.

 

[Tomasz]

It IS coded in the software, if you bought your i3 in NA. If you can turn on your REx whenever you want and you haven't already coded your car, then you don't have a CARB compliant NA vehicle and the point is moot.

I can turn REx whenever I want by not charging the HV battery. I can take the delivery, deplete it to 6.5% and drive it for next 100000 miles without plugging it in once. There is nothing in any document that I have signed preventing me from doing so and there is nothing in the car that would prevent me from adding another 1.9 gal of fuel and drive another 50 miles or so. Is it practical? Of course not. Is it smart? Probably no. Is it illegal? No it is not.

 

[mindmachine]

It IS coded in the software, if you bought your i3 in NA. If you can turn on your REx whenever you want and you haven't already coded your car, then you don't have a CARB compliant NA vehicle and the point is moot.

I can turn REx whenever I want by not charging the HV battery. I can take the delivery, deplete it to 6.5% and drive it for next 100000 miles without plugging it in once. There is nothing in any document that I have signed preventing me from doing so and there is nothing in the car that would prevent me from adding another 1.9 gal of fuel and drive another 50 miles or so. Is it practical? Of course not. Is it smart? Probably no. Is it illegal? No it is not.

Unfortunately that is not the point, the point is the manual says the OBD2 port is for use of BMW technicians and not the owner (not an exact quote, but look at you owners manual). I am all for individuals being able to code their car in order to use the Rex at will, but I live in a non-CARB state and so I am not hurting BMW or breaking the l;aW. If however you live in a CARB state it may be a different matter entirely. You may be breaking the law even and especially if you got any financial benefit from the CARB state you live in.

 

[Tomasz]

Unfortunately that is not the point, the point is the manual says the OBD2 port is for use of BMW technicians and not the owner (not an exact quote, but look at you owners manual). I am all for individuals being able to code their car in order to use the Rex at will, but I live in a non-CARB state and so I am not hurting BMW or breaking the l;aW. If however you live in a CARB state it may be a different matter entirely. You may be breaking the law even and especially if you got any financial benefit from the CARB state you live in.

Seems like we are talking about some different things. What I'm talking about is that REx is designed to run continuously and there is nothing in the car preventing it from doing so. As such BMW will have very hard time proving in court that the fact that I've turned it on manually did break something.

I do not live in CARB state and I really don't want to go into debate whether using OBD2 port by owner is legal or not. But looking at how many insurance companies want me to stick their tool into that port (luring me by promising up to 15% lower rate) so they can track me - it has to be legal.

 

[WoodlandHills]

It IS coded in the software, if you bought your i3 in NA. If you can turn on your REx whenever you want and you haven't already coded your car, then you don't have a CARB compliant NA vehicle and the point is moot.

I can turn REx whenever I want by not charging the HV battery. I can take the delivery, deplete it to 6.5% and drive it for next 100000 miles without plugging it in once. There is nothing in any document that I have signed preventing me from doing so and there is nothing in the car that would prevent me from adding another 1.9 gal of fuel and drive another 50 miles or so. Is it practical? Of course not. Is it smart? Probably no. Is it illegal? No it is not.

By that standard I can turn my ICE car off "whenever I want" by letting it run out of gasoline and turn it back on by filling the tank...... What does that have to do with the discussion?

 

[jadnashuanh]

Legal use verses warranty conditions are two different but similar things. Buying the car, you essentially agree to the warranty conditions (a legal contract), and if BMW says that port is only to be used by qualified service technicians, and you use it to reprogram your car, you've broken one of the terms of the warranty. Whether they'd exercise that right, I have no experience and can not say.

 

[Tomasz]

It IS coded in the software, if you bought your i3 in NA. If you can turn on your REx whenever you want and you haven't already coded your car, then you don't have a CARB compliant NA vehicle and the point is moot.

I can turn REx whenever I want by not charging the HV battery. I can take the delivery, deplete it to 6.5% and drive it for next 100000 miles without plugging it in once. There is nothing in any document that I have signed preventing me from doing so and there is nothing in the car that would prevent me from adding another 1.9 gal of fuel and drive another 50 miles or so. Is it practical? Of course not. Is it smart? Probably no. Is it illegal? No it is not.

By that standard I can turn my ICE car off "whenever I want" by letting it run out of gasoline and turn it back on by filling the tank...... What does that have to do with the discussion?

The original discussion point was whether REx was designed to run continuously or not. I think it's been proven beyond any doubt that REx in fact is designed to be run continuously whether BMW market is as such in NA or not. As a result of that design decision BMW will have hard time voiding your warranty just because you have run it longer than CARB (or any one else) would like you to. End of discussion.

 

[WoodlandHills]

I doubt very much that any legal dispute over a voided warranty due to coding will over how long the REx will run in another country. You have to be able to make changes to the coding without violating terms of the warranty in the first place and it has not yet been shown that this is possible. In fact there have been posts here that state the exact opposite: BMW has indeed voided the warranties on some cars with some coding changes. Until there is a test case we are all just guessing about the i3 and the discussion will go on......

 

[mindmachine]

By that standard I can turn my ICE car off "whenever I want" by letting it run out of gasoline and turn it back on by filling the tank...... What does that have to do with the discussion?

The original discussion point was whether REx was designed to run continuously or not. I think it's been proven beyond any doubt that REx in fact is designed to be run continuously whether BMW market is as such in NA or not. As a result of that design decision BMW will have hard time voiding your warranty just because you have run it longer than CARB (or any one else) would like you to. End of discussion.

You can't seem to see the forest for the trees on this issue. The point is, yes the Rex is capable of it, no argument there and yes in the EU and UK it is set up that way. However using the OBD2 port to mess with the programming of the car is quite different then just plugging in the insurance tracker.

Granted if you code it properly and don'make any mistakes it should be a simple issue of no harm done therefore no fowl. However there's the CARB issue even if you live in a non-CARB state. The car was imported based on certain parameters and you the customer messed with those parameters by using the port even the the owners handbook stats that it is not there for your use.

Maybe BMW won't but if they do you could be shit out of luck on the warranty in a US car.

 

[i3atl]

BMW has indeed voided the warranties on some cars with some coding changes. Until there is a test case we are all just guessing about the i3 and the discussion will go on......

Really? Where? I've never heard or seen an example of them voiding a warranty solely due to coding - but they have on cars that have been tuned to the point that the turbos fail prematurely, or someone tried to flash a module with new software and killed the module, requiring a new part.

Keep in mind that "coding" is often confused or lumped in with other, more significant/risky modifications that can and often do result in warranty issues.