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The fact they can legally charge a subscription for a fitted feature that does not pose any continuous cost for the company is insane
Flip it to instead focus on them forcing limited lifespans for the cars by doing this and then dropping support.
The fact they can legally charge a subscription for a fitted feature that does not pose any continuous cost for the company is insane
It's called "Rent-Seeking Behavior" and it has infected essentially every single fucking millimeter of the market.
You'll own nothing and you'll fucking like it.
Rent-seeking.
Car in the 90s: .... door doesn't close securely anymore ... the windshield is cracked ... the brakes don't work sometimes ... the transmission is slipping ... the engine is misfiring ... the alternator doesn't work anymore ... the coolant is way below the add mark ... steering fluid is almost empty ... you have no more headlights ... the rear trunk door has fallen off ... CAR IS STILL DRIVEABLE
Car in 2020s: ... The car is all in one piece (it may even be brand new) ... one random system trouble light ... alarm goes off at regular intervals to annoy you to the point of taking it to a mechanic.
Windshield wiper fluid low is so obtrusive. It warms you next to the odometer as a message pop-up instead of a light, other things have lights, why doesn't it? Know what's worse? It also pops up multiple times on the dashboard touch screen blocking you from seeing your navigation while driving. At least I know I'm low on wiper fluid!
My 2020 Seat Ibiza doesn't warn me about wiper fluid at all. It just stops working, which can be quite annoying when it's empty right as I'd really need it
Ironically, BMW, the company that was charging a heated seat subscription, is also the same company that still lies about its horsepower numbers today.
Which way? I've seen advertising use wheel hp instead of crank which is what I assume to be the default.
In the positive direction. Many of the new M3s and M4s, and even the Toyota Supra that they manufacture, have been marketed as making less power than cars that they will easily beat in a drag race.
Looks like customers have successfully voted with their wallets. Nice!
So rare for that to actually work these days.
Because people are so numbed by all of these things, that masses are just silently accepting all of what these companies throw at them.
Consumers have to wake up from this lethargy and start to support honest business or it will be too late.
BMW cancelled plans for this heated seats subscription based on memes like this. Keep up the good work!
I've wondered about how feasible it is to bypass all of these artificial locks these car companies put on their "services"
If you want to maintain the warranty, that's where you're going to be screwed. If you're buying used, who gives a fuck. Root the car and turn everything on. The car manufacturer cares about the first sale and that's it. They'll attempt to make it hard to root to prevent resales with more features enabled, but we're going to do it anyway. A lot of people are pessimistic about the future of cars (which is fare for new cars), but personally I don't care. Fuck the companies. There's a way to control all their devices whether they like it or not.
Isn't DMCA 1201 the problem here? It's the same law John Deere beats hackers, crackers and tinkerers over the head with. They put a token, flimsy digital lock on their equipment so any replacement must be blessed and ordained by JD itself to work. If you defeat that lock, or tell someone else how to defeat that lock, you're on the hook for fucking prison time or 500.000 bucks on your first offense. I agree with the spirit of your comment, when I purchase a thing the manufacturer can go fuck itself. But right now governments around the world (other countries have their equivalents based on the WIPO internet treaties) put all their legal weight behind this business model.
Wait, prison time for telling someone else how to bypass a subscription to a non-digital item? I thought the guy getting two years in prison for "copyright infringement" by streaming a video game online was too much!
I hear it's pretty easy
Do not take my word for it. I'm not a mechanic. Fuck I don't even have custom firmware on my Prius
Hopefully as my life goes on I will continue to make more money as I go.
I intend to use that money to own and maintain old ass cars until it's literally illegal.
I understand your sentiment but cars today are safer, quicker, dont rust as much, and get better gas mileage.
The cost to maintain an older car won't be cheap and it is shit for the environment.
We just need to place government regulations on subscriptions. With recent wins pertaining to right to repair, hopefully they pick up speed and people start voting to make good changes.
If you purchase a product, you should own it. If it has a feature that is disabled by the company, they should have to lease that space on your product, thereby paying you for the storage. That would incentivize not making products like this.
Just because cars are getting newer, does not mean that they're easier to repair on your own
I flatly concede that new cars are safer. Granted that, it's not really that bad to maintain an old car if you take a known good platform purchased in cash and maintain it in a low rust area (which I am). I present two examples:
I have a 1991 Chevy S10 I bought in 2011. Other than fluid changes, I have put in brakes (twice), battery, starter, and a water pump in it since that time. Total cost, maybe $300? I bought the truck for $2500 and it gets around 25mpg.
I have a 2005 Scion xB. Purchased 2019, I have put only brakes into it (cost $150ish). Cost was $2800, and it gets over 30mpg almost always.
Separate to these, I have an e-scooter I use for commuting and small errands on nice days. I think the trio makes a great combo of practical stuff mover, people mover, and "just me" mover. I find it hard to believe this trio would be anything close to the carbon output of making two new equivalent cars and burning the same amount of fuel with them.
Thoughts?
That time when Toyota overbuilt the shit out of an in-line six with way less power than it could handle as part of a gentlemanโs agreement to avoid government intervention and ended up being an absolute fucking monster.
Meanwhile hillbillies are learning how to start ford f150s with the button that opens the door.
It took me far too long to realise that this was a meme and not a link to a news article...
The Volkswagon recall really pussy whipped the entire automotive industry.
This was at it's peak in the nineties, with the gentlemens agreement between the Japanese automakers. I suspect some vehicles had their power underrated by 50KW or so.