Anti-theft alarm and auxiliary fog lights not working

[dglockitt]

Hi, I recently purchased a 2022 bike in the UK.  I requested to have the anti-theft alarm and auxiliary fog lights fitted to the bike.  I was advised by my dealer that the items were fitted to the bike but due to a "software issue" the alarm and lights would not function until they are able to upgrade the software on the bike. It has been 3 weeks now and this has still not yet been resolved.  I am wondering if anyone on here has had this issue because it sounds suspicious to me.

[Antares]

Originally Posted by dglockitt

Hi, I recently purchased a 2022 bike in the UK.  I requested to have the anti-theft alarm and auxiliary fog lights fitted to the bike.  I was advised by my dealer that the items were fitted to the bike but due to a "software issue" the alarm and lights would not function until they are able to upgrade the software on the bike. It has been 3 weeks now and this has still not yet been resolved.  I am wondering if anyone on here has had this issue because it sounds suspicious to me.

Can't comment on the foglight but if you remove your rear seat the alarm module should be physically there if it's been installed. looks like a 10x20cm box with a circular speaker over to one side.

[dglockitt]

Thanks for your response Antares.  I do see something under the seat which may be the alarm unit, but as I said it’s not functional on the bike and the dealer says they are waiting for a software upgrade for the bike before it will work.  The lights are also installed and there is the switch on the handlebars but they too are not working.

[Antares]

Originally Posted by dglockitt

Thanks for your response Antares.  I do see something under the seat which may be the alarm unit, but as I said it’s not functional on the bike and the dealer says they are waiting for a software upgrade for the bike before it will work.  The lights are also installed and there is the switch on the handlebars but they too are not working.

Might be a case of there being some miscommunication between the build and the software uploaded to it, as in the bike physically has the parts when built to the spec but the software uploaded it to it don't have them unlocked. In this case it'd indeed be very easy for BMW to simply enable these features on their own, so there might be some other unrelated issue interfering. 

[jozza66]

There are two ways to add "options" that didn't come with the bike from the factory. The dealers use a piece of software called ISTA and perform a retrofit, that adds the option code for the alarm and lights to the bikes spec list. Then all of the dependent coding is carried out to ensure that every ECU knows that an alarm and lights have been added - e.g the TFT menu will now have the alarm section added. If the bike isn't at the current software level, then the system won't et them do it until everything has been updated. This can take 3 hours - so the dealers hate it as it takes up a bay for ages.
The other way is to use a different BMW application called e-sys. This lets you add options without having to code the whole bike, but it's not something a dealership would do as they like to follow the rules.
I added an alarm to my Gen 2 using ISTA, but have also fallen foul when helping someone out with their lights and had to endure 3 hours of full system updates.

[dglockitt]

Thanks for this response  jozza66.  It is now making sense to me as a lay person.  So if what you say is correct, it's not that they are waiting on new software to be released (which is what I was told) but rather allocating the time to have the job done.  In any event, this matter has caused me a lot of stress as I am super vigilant with security now having had my last bike stolen.  I will definitely be taking this up with them next week.