Woman Forced To Buy New Car After Ex-Husband Uses BMW App To Harass Her

A common gripe among car owners nowadays is that vehicles come loaded with too much technology that makes the driving experience worse. In one harrowing case, this technology was weaponised against a domestic abuse survivor. A woman named Jane (a pseudonym) told Forbes that her ex-husband used her car's smartphone app to track her location and harass her. He remotely controlled the vehicle, causing the windows to roll down in the rain, the ignition to switch on unexpectedly, and the boot to open without explanation.

Jane initially shrugged off the issue but quickly realised that her ex-husband, who had previously threatened her with violence, still had access to the German car through the smartphone app. Having discovered the issue, Jane decided to approach BMW to remove her ex-husband from the app as he did not own the car.

However, upon approaching the local dealership, she was told that the employees did not have the ability to remove her ex. She returned with police reports detailing the man's aggressive behaviour, the protective orders, as well as a divorce decree and documentation showing she was the listed owner of the car.

“It was very obvious that this was a dangerous situation,” she said.

Despite being provided the evidence, the dealership staff said the only way to deal with the problem was to buy a new car. In the end, Jane had no choice but to buy a new car to simply avoid a harasser.

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BMW's Response

Quizzed about the incident, which could have compromised the victim's safety, BMW's spokesperson, Jay Hansen said the company takes urgent personal safety situations seriously. Hansen added that BMW has “escalation protocols and processes to help remove unauthorised or abusive users from accounts when appropriate.”

As per him, BMW had no record of anyone in Jane's area contacting them with such a complaint. However, he acknowledged that dealerships are independently owned and operated.