Many BMW owners dislike the idea of paying extra for something that’s already installed in their vehicles. So, instead of going to a BMW dealership, some drivers have given life to their heated seats with gray-market services. These services can unlock paywalled features for a one-time fee.
This is where Litchfield Motors comes in. Litchfield Motors is an auto performance center in the U.K. that tunes and upgrades vehicles. Its owner, Iain Litchfield, told Wired how it was possible to enable locked features like Apple CarPlay and voice recognition for as little as £40 ($48). Litchfield claims it’s even possible to unlock features that are not exactly legal, such as enabling the car’s ability to play content on in-car TV screens while the vehicle is in motion.
Litchfield himself specializes in cracking engine management systems that have been limited by manufacturers in order to unlock more power. Of course, he also knows people who can activate features as mundane as BMW’s heated seats. Litchfield claims these modifications are “extremely popular” among BMW owners, and have been a booming business as newer cars depended more on ECUs (Electronic Control Units) to control and restrict functionality in vehicles of all sorts.
Some shops concentrate on unlocking engine power and enhancing vehicles with modifications that can cost massive amounts of cash. Some of these shops won’t bother with modifications like unlocking heated seats — that’s been a modification that, for a while, was easy enough for the average at-home DIY car modder to handle. Recently, though, unlocking even the simplest feature has gotten a bit more difficult. The question is, how do they do it?
For all the latest Games News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
