BMW is now selling subscriptions for heated seats in a number of countries the latest example of the companys adoption of microtransactions for high-end car features.
A monthly subscription to heat your BMWs front seats costs roughly $18, with options to subscribe for a year ($180), three years ($300), or pay for unlimited access for $415.
Its not clear exactly when BMW started offering this feature as a subscription, or in which countries, but a number of outlets this week reported spotted its launch in South Korea.
BMW has slowly been putting features behind subscriptions since 2020, and heated seats subs are now available in BMWs digital stores in countries including the UK, Germany, New Zealand, and South Africa. It doesnt, however, seem to be an option in the US yet.
Weve asked BMW for the exact details of this roll-out, but it was unable to say when the subscriptions had been launched in which countries. Its no surprise that BMW isnt trumpeting the news, though. Since the company announced in 2020 that its cars operating system would allow for microtransactions on features like automatic high beams and adaptive cruise control, customers have decried the move as greedy and exploitative.
Carmakers have always charged customers more money for high-end features, of course, but the dynamic is very different when software, rather than hardware, is the limiting factor. In the case of heated seats, for example, BMW owners already have all the necessary components, but BMW has simply placed a software block on their functionality that buyers then have to pay to remove. For some software features that might lead to ongoing expenses for the carmaker (like automated traffic camera alerts, for example), charging a subscription seems more reasonable. But thats not an issue for heated seats.
Other features that BMW is locking behind subscriptions (as per the companys digital UK store) include heated steering wheels, from $12 a month; the option to record footage from your cars cameras, priced at $235 for unlimited use; and the IconicSounds Sport package, which lets you play engine sounds in your car for a one-time fee of $117.
In the latter case, BMW notes that the hardware for this feature has already been installed in your vehicle during production, at no extra cost. How generous.
I suppose this could be a good thing, buy the lowest priced model and jailbreak it for all the features!
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