BMW M4 COUPE Owner's Handbook Manual page 9

accept liability for parts or accessory products
of any kind which it has not approved.
BMW is unable to assess each individual prod‐
uct of outside origin as to its suitability for use
on BMW vehicles without safety risk. Nor can
suitability be assured if an official permit has
been issued for it in a specific country. Tests
performed for such permits cannot always
cover all operating conditions for BMW vehi‐
cles, and some of them therefore are insuffi‐
cient.
Data memory
General
A number of electronic control devices are in‐
stalled in your vehicle. Some of these are nec‐
essary for the vehicle to function safely or pro‐
vide assistance during driving, for example
Driver Assistance Systems. There are also
control devices which manage comfort or info‐
tainment functions.
Electronic control devices contain data memo‐
ries, which are able to save information on the
vehicle condition, component wear and condi‐
tion, maintenance requirements, technical
events or errors temporarily or permanently.
This information generally documents the con‐
dition of a component, a module, a system or
its environment, for example:
▷ Operating states of system components,
for example, fill levels, tyre pressure, bat‐
tery status.
▷ Status messages of the vehicle and its in‐
dividual components, for example wheel
rotation speed, wheel speed, deceleration,
lateral acceleration, fastened seat belt indi‐
cator.
▷ Malfunctions and faults of important sys‐
tem components, for example, lights and
brakes.
▷ Information on vehicle-damaging events.
Online Edition for Part no. 01402981699 - VI/17
Notes
▷ Responses of the vehicle to particular driv‐
ing situations, for example, triggering of an
airbag, activation of the stability control
systems.
▷ Ambient conditions, for example tempera‐
ture, rain sensor signals.
The data is required to perform the control de‐
vice functions. It is also used for detecting and
rectifying malfunctions, and helps the vehicle
manufacturer to optimise vehicle functions.
The majority of this data is transient and is only
processed within the vehicle itself. Only a small
proportion of the data is stored in event or er‐
ror memories and, if necessary, in the vehicle
key.
Reading out data
When service work is being carried out, for ex‐
ample repairs, service operations, warranty
work and quality assurance measures, this
technical information can be read out from the
vehicle together with the vehicle identification
number. A Service Partner of the manufacturer
or another qualified Service Partner or a spe‐
cialist workshop can read out the information.
The legally required on-board diagnostics
(OBD) socket in the vehicle is used to read out
the data. The data is collected, processed and
used by the relevant organisations in the serv‐
ice network. The data documents the technical
conditions of the vehicle, helps in locating
faults and improving quality, and is transferred
to the vehicle manufacturer, if necessary.
Furthermore, the manufacturer has product
monitoring obligations to meet in line with
product liability law. To fulfil these obligations,
the vehicle manufacturer requires technical
data from the vehicle. Error and event memo‐
ries in the vehicle can be reset when a Service
Partner of the manufacturer or another quali‐
fied Service Partner or a specialist workshop
performs repair or servicing work.
Data on service work carried out and proof of
maintenance is saved in the vehicle under the
service history and transferred to the vehicle
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