(Fwd) BMW fixes transmission via dialup to car

["Arun Rao" <rao@quattro>]

	Will Audi go the way of BMW? Will we be hitting <ctrl>-<alt>-<del>
	to fix our cars soon?  You decide :-)

	-Arun
--- Forwarded mail from Keith Bostic <bostic@bostic.com>

Date: Mon, 14 Apr 1997 09:05:02 -0400 (EDT)
From: Keith Bostic <bostic@bostic.com>
To: /dev/null@mongoose.bostic.com
Subject: BMW fixes transmission via dialup to car

Forwarded-by: John Kunze <jak@ckm.ucsf.edu>

Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 16:09:18 -0700 (PDT)
From: risks@csl.sri.com
To: risks@csl.sri.com
Subject: RISKS DIGEST 19.06

RISKS-LIST: Risks-Forum Digest  Thursday 10 April 1997  Volume 19 : Issue 06

   FORUM ON RISKS TO THE PUBLIC IN COMPUTERS AND RELATED SYSTEMS (comp.risks)
   ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy, Peter G. Neumann, moderator
....
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 14:01:52 -0400
From: Nick Zervas <nickz@radionics.com>
Subject: BMW fixes transmission via dialup to car

My dad's new Beamer [1996 540i], ya' know, the ultimate driving machine,
turned itself in to the ultimate PITA [pain...], as relayed by my dad:
The automatic tranny locked up in OD after he nailed it, doing the ol'
power downshift that automatics can do.  This left him quite overgeared
and useless from a full stop.  The instrument panel read 'program missing
' or some such fibbishness. Back at Beamer local, the center-of-gravity
guys found that he had a corrupted or missing tranny 'program'.  The
Beamer system is designed to sense driving habits and adjust shifting
patterns accordingly, storing the 'changes' in firmware.  Apparently, the
nailing was outside dad's established params so the 'program' balked.
They had to connect the car to Beamer central in Munchen via dialup to
download a fresh program.

NickZ


---End of forwarded mail from Keith Bostic <bostic@bostic.com>

--
Drew Rogge
drew@pixar.com


---End of forwarded mail from drew@pixar.com

--
--
Arun Rao
Pixar Animation Studios
Pt. Richmond, CA 94804
(510) 215-3526