Dealer Service Advisor Key Reader (?)

[elerner61]

That key reader thing that BMW dealer service advisors have on their desks, the thing they stick your key into. What does it do? Charge the battery, extract info from the key?

[Nate4641]

Since the keys are coded I'm pretty sure it gives the computer enough info about the car to pull up more from their database. It would be a lot easier to get service info by getting the VIN from your key than having you remember it or looking at the car.

[Loogey Clapp]

+1 and seems to me that last time I was in there, it also pulled up the mileage and service history.

[Huz-Z]

Last time my car was in, the service advisor told me that the key stores a limited amount of data from the car that can be retreived by the service advisor, just from the key.

[SD ///M4]

It probably varies with model and year, but a Google search turned up lots of hits: http://bit.ly/17wTO3z

[elerner61]

From looking at some other posts the information it stores looks like this list:

-Car model and year
-build date - delivery date
-build location
-gas
-fluids
-all maintenance intervals and countdowns that you would see on I Drive
- oil level
- faults
- software version
- TPMS
- Coolant temp.