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Did you pay the heated seats bill?

Discussion in 'General' started by BigBird, Nov 22, 2021.

  1. BigBird

    BigBird blah

    How Carmakers Use Subscription Models to Make More Profits

    https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cu...use-subscription-models-to-make-more-profits/

    Car makers actually say putting all the high end features into one build is cheaper than making a variety of models with and without features. It's kind of crazy though, but some enterprising person will figure out how to get these things to work without a subscription, or so is the hope.
     
  2. Ducati89

    Ducati89 Ticketing Melka's dirtybike

    Yeah fuck all that hooplah.
    5.9 cummins with simple everrrrythaaaang and leave me alone.
     
  3. Sabre699

    Sabre699 Wait...hold my beer.

    There'll be a YooToober who figures that shit out.
     
    cortezmachine and BigBird like this.
  4. NemesisR6

    NemesisR6 Gristle McThornbody

    Car makers going the way of video game companies.

    Pay full price for something and then pay extra to unlock the juicy features.....
     
  5. Ducati89

    Ducati89 Ticketing Melka's dirtybike

    Wonder if the ole Contra code will get me 30 of something....
     
    Rugbydad, Rich, cpettit and 3 others like this.
  6. beac83

    beac83 "My safeword is bananna"

    Having features controlled by a software key/license isn't anything special. It is much cheaper to make all the hardware the same and unlock features for an additional fee.

    I don't have any issue with that. Its been standard in my industry for more than 20 years.

    What I do have an issue with is doing the unlock via subscription. If you buy and pay for a feature, it should be unlocked and stay unlocked forever. When I sell the device, the features I paid for should not be reset to not present by the manufacturer.
     
  7. bored&stroked

    bored&stroked Disclaimer: Can't spell

    I don't pay for heated seats when they are just a one time price.
     
    dtalbott likes this.
  8. StaccatoFan

    StaccatoFan My 13 year old is faster than your President

    Yeah...I got some stupid Toyota app thing for free for the first year of my 2020 Highlander...I think it just expired.
    About all it did was open my car for me via my phone, and maybe start it. Other than that, I sure didn't give a shit.

    $8/month was the subscription fee they were trying to nickle and time me for to keep it. I'll keep the $8/month.
     
  9. Tristan

    Tristan Well-Known Member

    Me either.. I let the original buyer take the hit. Heated and cooled seats are the shit.
     
  10. BigBird

    BigBird blah

    The Mazda has a free subscription which is location/doors/remote start also tells fuel and any service issues, low air tire. It's free for 3 years I think.

    Remote start is necessary...even in the summer, winter, all year.

    I do wonder how much it would be after, and wonder if I can use it as like a Lo-Jack for a insurance discount.
     
  11. Dan Dubeau

    Dan Dubeau Well-Known Member

    Time to bust out the probe and start tracing wires.
     
  12. Jaguar has the same type of app. I use mine every day.

    I can start the car and turn on the heated or AC’ed seats, steering wheel, open/close the windows and sunroof, etc.

    About the only time I don’t use it is when the temps are 60-70deg.

    Aside from that, I like the car to already be cool or warm when I get in it.

    But it isn’t a subscription. I downloaded it with a (free) code from the Dealer, and been using it ever since.
     
  13. I get making one car setup (rather than various models) can be cheaper. So on that, it makes sense.

    But…

    1. There is always someone that can hack anything. They have to consider that.

    2. It would be bullshit to pay 6-figures+ for a vehicle, then have to pay monthly fees just to make the luxury features work. Fuck that.
     
    BigBird likes this.
  14. Dan Dubeau

    Dan Dubeau Well-Known Member

    1. The people who are smart enough to figure out the work around are a much smaller group than the people who will just blindly pay whatever subscription fee necessary to keep them in luxuries every month. Probably by a few orders of magnitude. Even if people figured it out and made an easy to follow youtube video on how to bypass it, most wouldn't do it, and would continue to pay a small nominal fee. I work with a guy that has had a gym membership for 5 years, and never ONCE gone to the gym. He's just too fucking lazy to go in, in person to cancel it. It's 20/month, and he's payed that for 5 years. The general population is much dumber than you think.......

    2. The people who can afford to pay 6 figures for a vehicle most likely don't care about the subscription cost. People in that category that think it's complete bullshit are again in the minority. The people who can't afford the small monthly fee probably shouldn't have a six figure vehicle in the first place.....

    3. Carmakers will make major bank from this. Both from the streamlined supply line issues , and manufacturing standpoint (All cares the same, no need for expensive human labor that can think and make decisions....) and second from the subscription revenue.

    4. I will not be the target audience for this bullshit. My wife however would happily pay $6/month to keep her ass and fingers toasty warm while she drives.

    5. Just to end on an odd #. :D
     
    dtalbott, BigBird and Gorilla George like this.
  15. SteveThompson

    SteveThompson Banned by amafan

    Our industry has been doing this for many years. Most of it is software, so I don't think the "tracing wires" method will work.
     
    stk0308, Kev59, cav115 and 1 other person like this.
  16. Triple X

    Triple X Well-Known Member

    KTM does it with the Superduke
     
    cha0s#242 likes this.
  17. Jedb

    Jedb Professional Novice :-)

    Can you pay to have only the driver's seat heated/cooled?
    Literally, a personal seat license..
     
    Knotcher and BigBird like this.

  18. I know they won’t do it, but in my opinion they should adjust the cost as necessary.

    If a vehicle was going to have that shit working as usual, but instead they want to make it via subscription, then the purchase price should be lowered.

    For example, if a car was going to be $150k with all that shit unlocked permanently, then it should be $130k+$200/month to access all the features.

    But to still charge $150k and then an extra $200/month just to use all the shit the car is supposed to have anyway, that’s bullshit.

    But like you said, the whole point of this (and everything) is to make money. So they will do whatever makes that happen.
     
  19. Motofun352

    Motofun352 Well-Known Member

    The car companies are certainly smart enough to know when you've hacked their options. Then they'll just kill your car until you pay up! :p Theft of services is a crime not unlike the old downloading of music off of napster.
     
    BigBird and Ducati89 like this.
  20. Dan Dubeau

    Dan Dubeau Well-Known Member

    There's only 2 wires a seat heater needs to function..... Splice in 12v lighter plug, and bobs your uncle.... Or it you want to get fancy, get a couple thermistors, and an arduino running a PID sketch with a couple relays, and you've got plug and play heated cheeks. You could even buy the proper connector to keep it all warranty safe when you sell..... Yeah, it's software that controls it, but it's still hardware that warms the buns.... and in the case of heated seats, at the end of the line its simply just resistance wire. These are steps the average joe wouldn't do, and would just pay a small monthly fee for.

    Haas machine controls have been pay as you go for features for a long time too. There are also workarounds for that too. Or so I've heard....
     
    BigBird likes this.

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