BMW Assist in cars made after 9/05, what gives?
 

Can someone tell me what happened in 9/2005 on BMW X5's with Assist that makes them so much more compatible with bluetooth phones (just by looking at the BMW NA website)?

I don't understand the whole bluetooth concept. You would think that its a standard protocol that should work with all Bluetooth devices.

I think the makers of Bluetooth are at fault?

Tell me about it. It appears that there are two versions of what is available for the X5. One is the ULF module, which is now at version 11 I believe, and the other is the TCU/Assist module, which also has gone through numerous revisions. As far as I know, the most recent TCU/Assist module is P/N 84 10 9 115 729 from 10/2006. If anyone has more up to date information than this please let me know. What I am still confused about is what happened in 9/2005. According to everything I have been able to find, no new TCU/Assist module was introduced at that time so why are more phones suddenly compatible? For obvious reasons I'd like to get those part(s).

For the USA at least, only the BT/Assist units was a factory option. The ULF unit was always a dealer fit.

From memory, if I recall they added support for more phones and fixed an annoying bug on the TCU whereby it would always default to the telephone sub-menu on the board monitor when you first turned the ignition over.

I think the 84 10 6 963 798 unit came in around 9.2005