Carmakers Push Forward With Plans To Make Basic Features Subscription Services, Despite Widespread Backlash

The simple answer is "REFUSE TO BUY THE SHIT!"

It is literally that simple. I can't think of a single person that HAS to buy a NEW car. Keep what you have or buy used. Tell the dealerships and auto makers to fuck off! Explain why a person ever has to buy a NEW car.

As long as people are stupid and buy it the auto makers WILL continue on this path.

"Corp execs literally don't care about your bitching, and will perfectly coordinate with other companies corp execs to make sure the same blanket policy is pushed and agreed upon by everyone else in the industry, thus making it the new standard and leaving the customer with no choice against it, for the 69 millionth time"

What is really happening is your car has hardware features that are being disabled, and you have to pay extortion money for the criminals to not disable them. It's ransomware as a service.

So the question is, who wants to buy from a company that is running ransomware as a service?

*You wouldn't download heated seats would you? *

I definitely would.

I think this is some 4d chess shit where they realize they can get a bunch of people to void their warranty on their vehicle by making easily bypassable paid service locks in vehicles.

The only way to stop this is with regulations.

We need Autoworker Unions to refuse this shit with us.

So it lowers the cost of the car right? Right?

"Oh no, we can't compete with Chinese manufacturers! Surely if we squeeze the customers just a little bit harder..."

Car toys is just gonna take in the bucks. These car manufacturers are thinking they can charge a subscription fee when car toys will plug in a little doohickey they just makes your heated seats work.

"Officer, I signaled to switch lanes but I forgot to update my card on file so the blinkers won't turn on. I was on my way to get a prepaid card for the blinkers and to open the trunk so I can get my groceries out."

The only backlash they listen to is the one to their wallets. Remember Netflix password crackdown backlash?

As much as I hate what it will do to the used car market we as a people need to stop buying these new cars. Like actually make it a shameful act to even be in one of these distopian devices. People love to bully and be outraged, why not point it to something like this that can be agreed on and is not hard to fix?

Climate conference or whatever, has nothing to say about car makers actively hindering adoption of modern engines/EV?

And this shit is why I’ll never own a Tesla — or any other make that pulls this stunt.

Just remember to not pay for the subscription and they will eventually stop this particular nonsense.

Again, I mean good luck with that I suppose. They do this and it will just accelerate the market to jailbreak cars.

And this is why capitalist markets don't really regulate themselves and need government intervention.

Enough with the subscriptions!

If this becomes common enough there's gonna be a whole cottage industry of jailbreaking cars.

vote with your wallet and don't buy these features if u get a new car. Or get a new car that still has these features the old school way

Bought a car with a future subscription to its remote services (climate, lock/unlock, etc). Company wants $450/year for access. Guess what we aren’t going to sign up for when the free 2 year period expires?

Vote with the wallets folks.

Only the stupid rich people who are complete fucking idiots are gonna spend money on this. That and people irresponsible with money who are also complete morons. Anyone with a sense of financial responsibility will absolutely not buy these shitty anti consumer cars

🎶 It's a bad idea, and they're all about it 🎶

I worked in design for a major global automaker, I designed and prototyped various user experiences around enabling/disabling features on demand, and paying a subscription. This was 7-8 years ago, and the context was developing countries and what we called "emerging markets" where people just bought bare bones base model vehicles, but there were always 1 or 2 highly desirable features they needed but could only get in a high spec model - they couldn't afford.

The idea tested very well, they could buy their cheap vehicle and then enable just the things they really need. And they would pay for that. I still think this is a valid and good use case for subscribing, in these markets and for these people.

Somewhere between then and today, sales and marketing entered the chat, and I know because I fought them tooth and nail. What I designed morphed into subscribing to everything for everyone. I don't work there any more and that's part of why.