wanted to help a friend replace the battery in her mini because it can't be that hard, I've done it enough times with other cars.
did some research since I heard there's a catch, turns out exchanging the battery is a bit more complicated than most cars, but still easy, that's not a problem.
BUT a new battery has to be "activated", or the start/stop function wouldn't work and "the car might not start at all".
this of course has to be done by a "licenced mechanic", i. e. the nearest mini center, and costs ~150€....
simply fuckin telling the car "hey, there's a new battery here, in case you didn't notice!"
and they of course also don't allow you to come with your own battery because "that might be unsafe"....
fuckers made a battery change that should have cost exactly the ~150€ of the battery then cost ~550€ 🙃
Mini is owned by BMW FYI, they were the ones who kinda started the whole charging subscription fees on already installed features enshitification car brands are trying to push on us.
You are correct, at least for the Rav4. Latest models come w/ a free trial (1-10 years depending on trim), but after that expires even the key fob remote start stops working.
My starter for my old truck from my Durango $150. My new starter for my partner's X3 $1000, both done 3rd party.
Mine took 15 min, his took 6h. You pay all the extra money for all the extra work to do the simplest things. There was an entire book for a guide for his work-around.
We were told specifically that the "key" itself, which is like $1000 on its own, had to be used as the device. We got a spare key (for free) from BMW (as per our used purchase agreement), not knowing that's how they work-around their extremely specialized system.
Modern cars have battery management systems that monitor the batteries, charge state and charging. This is so they can make their batteries last long, and not kill them doing auto start/stop. So the car needs some information about the battery.
That's why you have to reset them for the new batteries. The manufacturer's aren't fucking with you. The mechanics are just kind of robbing you because most people aren't going to do that kind of work even is it is pretty simple. I had to do it on my Ford that doesn't even have auto start/stop, but at least you just have to Google a weird process to make the car do it (which also had to be done to unfuck my power windows after battery failure).
Yeah it's more complex than when you learned to work on cars, but that's kind of all of life.
The higher in luxury cars record how long the battery has been in the vehicle (AKA activated). Their computer control system rely on a particular voltage supply. When the battery begin to get weak the computer sensors do not read correctly.
There are other things as well. Batteries installed in the rear of the vehicle require a vent tube to be installed/reinstalled to vent the battery to the outside of the cabin.
My dad changed the battery in his car with the engine running to get around a similar issue. Not the recommended way, but i absolutely get not wanting to "cave in" to this BS.
I changed the battery in my 2020 mini a few months ago. I had to buy a Bluetooth obd reader and some bmw app just to register my new battery into the car.
I want to blame that on German engineering but I think that's only part of the answer. Really it's just where new cars have gotten to. The most basic maintenance is software locked so only licensed mechanics, who work for the manufacturer/dealership or pay the manufacturer for licensing, can do it.
They sell a battery plug in for your cars lighter port in the cab for these kinds, to save you the trouble of having to get reprogrammed in the occasion that your car battery dies randomly / bricking your car. I can’t believe that is possible.. 😔
The old battery capacity and voltage lowers due to aging, that way the alternator has to charge faster overtime to withstand the battery from draining and adjust the voltage so everything works great. The ecu needs to know the battery is changed and the capacity, voltage is new/higher so the alternator doesn’t need to work hard anymore so they programmed it in. to keep the very expensive electronics and alternator from getting fried. Just be happy you didn’t had the Lithium ion battery like some BMWs have it costs like 3000 euro
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u/BChurchmountain 14h ago
They’re going the John Deere route.
They want all repairs done their way and no third party involvement.
It’s gross.