The new patch increases data security and has been made in response to a report from the motorist’s association, which had identified a potential security gap when data is transmitted via the mobile phone network.

According to reports more than 2.2 million vehicles could have been affected by the issue, although no cases have come to light yet.

Under the fix, there is no need for vehicles to go to the workshop as the update is carried out automatically as soon as the vehicle connects up to the BMW Group server or the driver calls up the service configuration manually.