Amount of information stored on your key

[Julietbravo]

So, I took my 2016 Mini into the dealer today for a minor warranty issue. The first thing he did was took the key, and stuck it into a docking station. His monitor then showed a picture of the car - correct spec with the right colour wheels and wing mirrors (taken from the chassis number I guess). It also gave him a ton of information - the time since last service, time to next service, brake pads and what looked like oil levels - in red, amber and green to indicate status. It even showed when the car was built, and put into hibernation for shipping as well as the PDI and delivery date. All this information was stored in the key.

I guess in this day and age I shouldn't be surprised that all this is available, but I was surprised it was on the key. I assumed the key was one-way data. It also made me think. He said that when the car starts indicating the service is due, the green icons go yellow, then red after a couple of months. At that point, he cautioned that warranty items would not be honoured as it would be outside the service schedule, which makes sense, but there is no 'just went over the mileage yesterday mate' anymore. It's all recorded electronically. It also reminded me about the thread recently with the guy who modified his Audi and the dealer wobbled on the warranty when the gearbox failed. There's no hiding any modifications anymore - unless you are competent with electronics and programming.

[Julietbravo]

I had no idea. For a service, I normally just hand the keys over and come back in an hour, but because this was warranty I had to show and tell, and saw him interrogate the key. Surprised me.