The problem with this with COVID was that herd immunity is required to prevent the virus spread, and while the virus was spreading there was chance of mutation rendering existing immune responses useless, and also people still got sick because the vaccine wasn't perfect. That's before we consider that some people can't get the vaccine and some people are vulnerable enough that the vaccine itself isn't sufficiently protective.

If people wanted to kill themselves I'm all for it. But I advocate for them eating a bullet and not burdening the rest of society with their suicidal stupidity.

My grandma (97 years old) was the only woman in the old age home who refused the vaccine. Out of 130 people she was the only one who caught COVID and it put her on her death bed. The doctors told us to say our goodbyes.

She survived (stubborn woman probably told death himself to piss off because she wasn't dressed for the after life or something like that). Anyway had a conversation with her a month after and I asked he if she got the vaccine.

Her answer: "Of course I did. I never want to go through that again. Can you believe in hospital they fed me baked potatoes with a side of fries? I never want to experience that again."

We were all dumb founded. She was serious too. She got the vaccine after seeing what hospital food was like, she was still completely fatalist about her life and avoiding a sickness we had medicine to treat, all because she was annoyed about how much medicine she already had to take.

Some people aren't rational.

In some cases they are delusional. I recently saw an exchange where someone was triumphantly claiming that 35% of people who had COVID-19 shots died from the vaccine. I don't think they even felt stupid when it was pointed out to them that this would literally mean 1/4 of the population of the planet would have to have died given 5.6 billion people got the vaccine.

Some brains aren't firing on all neurons.

There isn't an additional charge. You can hack the car all you want. As you said it's your hardware. But you never paid for the software feature, so feel free to modify the software yourself. You got something advertised to you with specific performance and you paid for that. This has been the case with cars since fuel injection, as anyone who ever modified their ECU to get more performance out of their engine can tell you.

Let me use simple words for you:

Situation before: Choices:
1) Not pay for heated seats. Not have heated seats.
2) Pay for heated seats. Always have heated seats.

Situation after: Choices:
1) Not pay for heated seats. Not have heated seats.
2) Pay for heated seats. Always have heated seats.
3) Not pay for heated seats up front. Choose to add heated seats later for a monthly fee.
4) Pay a monthly fee for heated seats. Choose to stop paying later if you find you don't use it.
5) Not pay for heated seats up front. Choose to add heated seats later for a one of payment for the life of the car.

Can you see that 5 choices is more than 2 choices or do I need to get a grade schooler to explain this to you?

No it wasn't. You paid for what you paid for. Across all models you had the choice of not having heated seats, subscribing to heated seats monthly, able to start and stop at any time, or buying the feature outright.

At no point were you paying for something you already paid for.

No, you don't pay for the cost of parts and assembly. You pay for the features advertised to you. This is common in many industries.

And it can be. If you bought the BWM the way you always did and bought it with the feature outright from the beginning it was available for the lifetime of the car. It didn't even go up in price.

You're literally bitching about having an additional option given to you. Get your head checked.

Not just German. Many countries have these checks, even China. Simply being able to start the engine is not sufficient to be allowed to drive a car.

Exactly what it says on the box. A check, typically yearly of the car for roadworthyness. Each country implements it differently. Netherlands (Algemene Periodieke Keuring), Germany (Kfz-Zulassungen und Hauptuntersuchung), Belgium (Autokeuring), Luxembourg and France (Contrôle Technique), Spain (Inspección Técnica de Vehículos), etc.

Quite a few of them check e-call functionality as a mandatory check along with a whole host of other tests, brake checks and gap measurements, tire tread tests, steering checks, light bulbs, etc. In most cases people combine their roadworthy test with a quick maintenance visit to save them going to the workshop at a different time.

It's not a European thing alone. It's also required in Australia, New Zealand, even China (for vehicles over 10 years old),

Why? Be specific. So far plenty of people have offered alternatives that are worse than what I already have and cost money to implement. Did you by any chance buy a car with a shit infotainment system that didn't meet your desires? That sounds silly.

My "nav system" is Google maps. It's integrated into the vehicle and in a way far superior to Android Auto since the map mirrors onto the instrument cluster.

Incidentally all current model Chevy's do this too. They run Android Automotive and Chevy no longer have their own nav system (which is probably why you stopped getting updates for yours).

So to be clear you're suggesting I spend money to replicate functionality I already have and paid for, which requires a device tethered to the vehicle, and provides actually *reduced* functionality since Android Auto doesn't integrate with vehicle dashboards, only infotainment systems meaning that I now need to look at the centre screen to see the map instead of just glancing at the instrument cluster?

Why go to effort to duplicate what I already have and already paid for?

Sorry you utterly failed to sell me on this idea.

In several countries a functioning e-call system is part of a yearly roadworthyness test.

Yes it's mandatory for consumers. Functioning e-Call system is part of yearly roadworthyness tests in many countries.

At least for now. This is currently the subject of an EU parliamentary debate due to the discontinuation of 2G / 3G cell coverage which is about to render millions of e-call systems from older cars non-functional.

This is a key problem especially for BMW which has for decades positioned themselves as a premium luxury brand. The current economic climate makes people more price sensitive than brand loyal and this is the gap China is filling quite nicely.

Though it's worth noting that it's not like Chinese cars in Europe are somehow being dumped and sold at Chinese prices. They aren't. e.g. the newly released Denza Z9 costs $40k US in China, and $135k US in Europe for the same model.

And before anyone says "eww unreliable French PoS" my previous Renault was old enough to drink in America before it broke down. Even then it was a fuel pump which was repairable, but at that point I just had enough of driving a well over 20 year old car so sold it off to be turned into a small metal cube.

Bad example. The SEAL has far more gadgets and functionality than a base model i4. The reality is it's precisely this kind of fully loaded feature stuff that does in fact sell cars, and Europe's majors are severely lagging in this field.