Bavarian car giant BMW is about to rewrite the rules for vehicle maintenance, or so it hopes, by tightening control over who has the right to “tweak“ under the hood. The company has officially registered a patent for a new type of fastener that at first glance seems like a pure design decision, but in fact hides a serious barrier for independent mechanics and home repair enthusiasts. We are talking about screws whose heads are shaped exactly like the brand's legendary logo - the blue and white “ propeller“.
The move, although visually impressive, has caused a wave of discussion in the automotive world. The sketches submitted to the German Patent Office reveal a screw head divided into four quadrants. In two of them, the surface is concave, while in the others it is flat or convex. And this is not just aesthetics. This specific relief makes the use of standard tools such as a straight screwdriver, a cross or even Torx bits completely impossible. In other words, if you do not have the specially made BMW key, the screw simply will not budge.
The main idea behind this innovation is to limit the access of “unauthorized persons“ to key components of the car. These specific fasteners are expected to be used in visible and structurally important places – from the attachment of the seats in the interior to the connections between the body and the chassis. This practically means that any intervention on these modules will require a visit to an official service center, where they have the patented tool. For many owners, this sounds like the end of the era of free choice for maintenance, while Munich will probably justify its decision with a guarantee of quality and safety.
The patent, filed in the summer of 2024 and published at the end of 2025, has not yet been confirmed for mass production, but the very fact of its existence is a clear signal of the direction the industry is taking. While some brands are trying to make repairs easier, BMW seems to be betting on exclusivity and a closed ecosystem. The question remains whether this will become a new standard for the brand, or will it remain just an interesting conceptual detail for their most expensive models, and how quickly tools that unscrew BMW's new bolts will appear on the market.