its because its coded and programmed to the car cant just plug any other unit in there, they run one use chips as well so in theory cant rewrite them to work in any other car but the one off when made and programmed at factory, there are company's in uk that will repair the old unit, or they can clone the unit by de-sordering the protective chip from old one and solder in the used unit,

 

can a dealer reflash or reprogram the one that i put in the car? also who in the uk does it? no one in usa?

 

bba remen in uk repair them below link dealer will only be able to reflash a new unit i believe ,

Home (GB) | BBA Reman

ABS, ECUs, Power Steering, Throttle Bodies, Sat Nav and I.C.E, Instrument clusters From stock or your faulty unit rebuilt with a LIFETIME WARRANTY

www.bba-reman.com

 

im guessing its the ARM chip

 

no idea not something i've ever got involved in as one mistake and its destroyed , I would only ever send such cars to a specialist or main dealer , car industry are just finding new ways to thieve off us car owners, years ago there would be a number of £3 relays that worked all kinds of component's on cars ,, these days they solder tiny relays within the bcm unit then they also add the anti theft and cas unit to it , they then run it on can bus systems they then code it with chips that are only programable once from a virgin state, bcm for a mini at main dealers is around £1200 , they also do same with radio and bluetooth units and just to add to it they mount them at lowest part of the car knowing maybe 10% of cars sold will have a water ingress fault at some point of its life and know these units will be destroyed, they also know that more like 50% or convertibles will, i done a convertible couple of years ago that leaked in to passengerside floor well , £1750 bmw took off the owner for new radio and bluetooth and amp units as main dealer only cannot be interchanged, just robbing thieves in my book, would be careful opening such boards up as just static off you car damages the chips , when they work on them they earth them selves down by a wrist band to earth