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[return to "BMW PHEV: Safety fuse replacement is extremely expensive"]
1. CraigJ+is[view] [source] 2025-12-05 06:22:04
>>mikela+(OP)
€4000 euros plus tax to replace the module that contains the fuse. Insane.

The ford transit custom PHEV costs £4500 to replace the timing belt. Access issues mean dropping the hybrid battery and parts of the sub frame. Compare with the mk8 transit, i've done the wet belt myself on that and it requires no special tools (well, i bought a specific crank pulley puller for £20) and can be done in a day on the driveway. I believe in some markets the replacement schedule is down to 6 years for the new phev due to all the wet belt failures on older models.

So far my favourite brand to work on has been Mazda, the engineering is very thoughtfully done with consideration for repairs.

I hear a lot of praise for toyota but it's from people who haven't worked on a car themselves rather than mechanics and they must be talking about toyotas from a bygone era because i'm not impressed with a 2019 corolla engineering at all, specifically various parts of the electrical system. I believe that was the most popular car in the world at that time.

Tesla is remarkably well done. Simplicity is under rated. So much so i bought one with the intention to keep for a looooong time.

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2. jinzo+8A[view] [source] 2025-12-05 08:00:39
>>CraigJ+is
Is it insane? I'm working in this field, and I know how quickly you can come up with such a number if you are BMW and you are deathly afraid that someone will get electrocuted while working on your car, driving it or rescuing someone in a crash. It's a safety and liability issue, where they go to great lengths to actually re-certify a battery after crash. The whole thing is setup so, that even the dummy electricians in an average BMW shop can safely certify that this battery is still safe. It's a lot easier to kill yourself (or someone else) when working on a EV Battery than wet belt. Also a lot harder to repair said battery than wet belt. And that goes for all EVs and manufacturers that actually care about people (Tesla, demonstrably does not).
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3. jacque+PQ[view] [source] 2025-12-05 09:28:19
>>jinzo+8A
Yes, it is insane. It's a fuse. They must have some stats on how often those things need replacing and it should have been accessible. The customer has - when they buy the car - absolutely no way of knowing what kind of surprises like this there are hidden in the vehicle and besides, it kills the second hand market so you can only trade your vehicle to a BMW dealership where they can absorb those costs for a fraction of what it will cost an end user. BMW is a crap brand in spite of their reputation, we've had one leased Mini in our company and it is the very last time we do business with BMW, that thing was more in the shop than out of it with electrical issues. A friend had pretty much every BMW ever made since he got wealthy enough to afford them (car enthusiast) and his experience is much the same, but he keeps buying them.
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4. taneq+0X[view] [source] 2025-12-05 10:09:10
>>jacque+PQ
It’s not a fuse. It’s a fuse plus guarantee plus liability.
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5. close0+q11[view] [source] 2025-12-05 10:47:30
>>taneq+0X
> It’s a fuse plus guarantee plus liability.

If that was the issue you wouldn't be allowed to change your wheels on the side of the road. They'd be locked down to the car and require a complex software procedure to guarantee they were swapped correctly and won't endanger lives.

This is a professional shop raising the issues. They are liable for how the repair is done. BMW is just liable to lose money if people can easily fix their car at some other, cheaper, professional garage.

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6. jinzo+631[view] [source] 2025-12-05 11:00:59
>>close0+q11
Yes, as changing a tire is completely the same tool-and-knowledge level than repairing a EV Battery.

If you would see how EV Clinic "repairs" Tesla batteries, you would not say they have any concern for liability.

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7. close0+Ml1[view] [source] 2025-12-05 13:11:34
>>jinzo+631
> Yes, as changing a tire is completely the same tool-and-knowledge level than repairing a EV Battery.

I think you are intentionally misrepresenting this and moving the goalposts to make your point. GP blamed safety and liability for the way the process looks like, not the complexity of the task. When it comes to safety you bet that an improperly installed or inspected wheel or tire can be dangerous.

A short internet search tells me [1][2] that some sort of tire malfunction causes tens of thousands of accidents and kills hundreds of people every year in the US alone. That doesn't include wheel malfunctions (e.g. wheel coming off). Yet this isn't locked behind some manufacturer approval and proprietary tools.

How BMW chose to approach this is profit driven. The old money printing machine from ICE maintenance, repairs, and spare parts is slowing down so they come up with new ways of extracting money. Like making the lives harder and more expensive for any non-BMW shop to do repairs. They're not alone in this, other brands do the same.

> If you would see how EV Clinic "repairs" Tesla batteries, you would not say they have any concern for liability.

More moving of goalposts mixed with not understanding what liability is, and where it belongs. So you tell me what's Tesla's liability when EV Clinic "repairs" a battery.

[1] https://www.smithlawcenter.com/practice-areas/defective-tire...

[2] https://www.safetyresearch.net/nhtsa-gets-real-on-tire-fatal...

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