[Zirnitra]

All

My wife picked her car up to day and I checked out a X3 M50 and saw that it did not have the M seat belt but one that I saw online did - (pic attached) like I thought they should have. Is this a miss? Can anyone confirm.

Thanks

[MidnightLight]

The seat belt M tricolor stitching isn't available in the US. You must have seen a photo for Europe or other market.

[Ravenous666]

Also this doesn't look to me like a X3 G45 seat.

[MidnightLight]

Originally Posted by Ravenous666

Also this doesn't look to me like a X3 G45 seat.

True, that looks like a 5 series rear seat. But I assume the OP was just using that for illustration. Also if they got that off a BMW configurator, sometimes they use pictures from other models to describe a feature that's common across models.

[Zirnitra]

my bad - It was from a China proposed type model pic from earlier. Be nice though they could offer it though as I saw one on the X5 comp and it looked nice.

[Ravenous666]

The M detail seat belts are standard for the M50 and the M-Sport Pro package in Germany.

Also we get the small M badges on the fender which is missing in the US.

There is quite some variance in standard equipment between the different markets.

[Zirnitra]

So, it looks like the X3 M50 is only to be made in US. When I spec the car in the german BMW site, it indeed has m belts. Therefore, the Spartanburg factory must have them in stock to manufacture cars for the European markets - or am I mad.

[MidnightLight]

Yup the factory has them. They just don't put them on the cars designated for the US market. There's a whole bunch of market-specific variants that the factory needs to accommodate. Most notably: Spartanburg assembles both left-hand and right-hand drive cars.

[Ravenous666]

All M50 for Germany get the M belts.

This is from my dealers demo car:

[avi66]

Originally Posted by Zirnitra

So, it looks like the X3 M50 is only to be made in US. When I spec the car in the german BMW site, it indeed has m belts. Therefore, the Spartanburg factory must have them in stock to manufacture cars for the European markets - or am I mad.

As said there are regional variation G45’s all assembled at Spartanburg, and that was the same with the G01.

US market doesn’t get M Branded seatbelts, M badges on fenders, and the really useful selective beam masking headlights are disabled. Hence, the difference can be more than just cosmetic.

There were even more differences on the G01 between US and other markets.

[BokTroy]

Originally Posted by avi66

As said there are regional variation G45’s all assembled at Spartanburg, and that was the same with the G01.

US market doesn’t get M Branded seatbelts, M badges on fenders, and the really useful selective beam masking headlights are disabled. Hence, the difference can be more than just cosmetic.

There were even more differences on the G01 between US and other markets.

Do you mean anti-dazzle is still disabled on G45? I think the DOT law is already updated for it to be legal a couple years back. If the hardware is the same I wonder what could have been the decision factor.(considering no cost cutting by putting different hardware)

[MidnightLight]

Originally Posted by BokTroy

Do you mean anti-dazzle is still disabled on G45? I think the DOT law is already updated for it to be legal a couple years back. If the hardware is the same I wonder what could have been the decision factor.(considering no cost cutting by putting different hardware)

Unfortunately, the new US adaptive headlight regulations impose different requirements from what's in place in European markets. So BMW's existing anti-dazzle headlights are not compliant and supposedly need fundamental re-engineering. It's unclear whether BMW is even working on developing US-compliant adaptive headlights. But the ones already manufactured (including on the G45) will probably never be enabled in the US unless the regulations change again.

[BokTroy]

Originally Posted by MidnightLight

Unfortunately, the new US adaptive headlight regulations impose different requirements from what's in place in European markets. So BMW's existing anti-dazzle headlights are not compliant and supposedly need fundamental re-engineering. It's unclear whether BMW is even working on developing US-compliant adaptive headlights. But the ones already manufactured (including on the G45) will probably never be enabled in the US unless the regulations change again.

Thanks for the reply, that’s unfortunate…North American DOT lighting legislation is relatively outdated/more restrictive indeed.

[avi66]

Originally Posted by BokTroy

Do you mean anti-dazzle is still disabled on G45? I think the DOT law is already updated for it to be legal a couple years back. If the hardware is the same I wonder what could have been the decision factor.(considering no cost cutting by putting different hardware)

Yes disabling the always on anti dazzle selective beam masking tech in the adaptive LED matrix headlights in the US market. One of my favourite features, and really beneficial in the places I drive.

In the past there was also mention of US spec headlights units having a lower light output spec, but I’ve no idea if this is true.

Here’s a screen cap of a US M50 VIN decode. Should be easy to check a VIN in the same way looking for option code S5AP - Decoding Anti-Glare High-Beam Assistant.