A monthly fee for heated seats? Car subscriptions are coming — whether Americans like them or not

Corporations are a lot of things, but they are not stupid. If I were them I would somehow get the racism/equity thing going on and call the seats..."Anti-racism/pro-equity heated seats," and make the case that they will give 3 cents every month to the, "Society For The Abolition Critical Thinking" People are so stupid in this country they'd probably double their monthly payment if there was a way they could virtue signal it [perhaps the car manufacturer could add a display on the roof [like a taxi] with a running social equity score.

 

People already do it with electronic devices. For now, you can buy something else. But eventually all new cars will have the same EULA (that's how corporate interlocking directorate tends to work), and eventually they'll pass laws against driving old cars, probably under the guise of 'saving the environment.'

 

Well, yeah... An electronic device is not a car though. Would you buy a house that you were not allowed to change the security system? Of course not! Same with cars. I'm not convinced that this will become a normal practice.

 

People buy houses in HOAs with those sorts of restrictions all the time. I never would tho...

 

if the lock is a digital lock, it's covered by the DMCA, you're bypassing the digital security

 

why not?

 

what lock?

 

Not the same thing.

 

I just assume that there will always be a better option to buy, though I imagine we will see an extra amount tacked onto the retail price in most if not all cases as a faux alternative option to paying the sub. So then hacking might be the best option after all.

</thinking out loud>

 

As long as this is simply an option, then I think it's fine. Just don't make this mandatory.

I live in the South, I only could ever use heated seats for about 4 months. If I could start/stop my subscription like I can with streaming services like netflix/paramount+/etc, then I could probably save a good bit of money only paying for heated seats for a couple months a year while I own the car instead of paying $2k when I buy the car.

 

any digital lock, if they put a digital lock on your cars hood, it would be a violation to bypass it

 

My car has heated seats and I have never turned the heat on. They wouldn't make any subscription money from me.

 

I used to have hacked computer games when I was a teenager. However, later I realized that using hacked software is essentially stealing. Now, I pay for software that I want.

On the other hand, you could use open source software. If you want Photoshop capabilities for photo editing, I can recommend Darktable as a raw developer/image editor, or GIMP for more complex editing.

As to the OP, I despise subscription type sales models. When I got my last car, they wanted a subscription for wifi/other online services. No way I would pay for this. Unfortunately, too many people do, that's why these models work -- until everyone gets so tapped out with monthly subscription bills that they slowly drift into bankruptcy. It's the American way, milk the consumer cash cow for as much profit as humanely possible. But, government is the problem, right?

 

I just FOB my car and let it run Now my bike, heated grips are a no brainer

 

Deal with Gates long enough and you will never feel bad about cracking software.. No damn reason a person should have to pay that pric for multiple copies of Windows for every PC they own.. Should be a one time payment for say, up to four PC's.. Even then, the guy would still be filthy rich...

 

And all consumer guns need to be limited to 22 caliber single shot types. There is no reason why a civilian needs to own wmds.

 

There are toll roads here where the speed limit is 80. Why shouldn't I be allowed to drive the speed limit?

 

I spent the last eight or so years tying to figure out and learn Photoshop; I know how about 30% of it works, but that is the only part of PS I need. I tried Gimp, couldn’t figure it out and gave up because I don’t want to start from scratch like I did with PS.

Yeah, using PS for free is stealing, I feel somewhat guilty because of it and I won’t even try to justify it because I can’t.

Im going to look up Darktable and see what it offers. Thanks for the tip.

Edit: I see Darktable is more like Lightroom which I know nothing about. But thanks anyway.

 

The speed limit should be reduced. It would save lives.

70 mph is plenty fast enough.

If you ask me I think the national speed limit should be 45 and I think that would cut automobile deaths by a great Factor.

 

Somehow I don't think you would be willing to submit to a national speed limit.

Progressives have lots of ideas for what other people should and shouldn't have except for when it comes to things that personally affect them.

Make the national speed limit 45. It would save so many lives.

No civilians own "weapons of mass destruction". You might tone down your hysteria a little bit and call them killing machines or something like that...

 

It's interesting to think about how different cultures view different issues with regard to freedom:

For example;

Germans have no problems with rigid gun control laws. On the other hand, many would be outraged if there would be a highway speed limit implemented (currently there is none). Note that both gun control and speed limits save lives. However, they have grown up with strict gun control but no speed limits, so that's how they internally calibrate "freedom".

Americans have no problems with a pretty strict 55-65 mph highway speed limit. On the other hand, many would be outraged if there would be stricter gun control laws implemented (currently there is lax gun control). Note that both gun control and speed limits save lives. However, they have grown up with lax gun control but strict speed limits, so that's how they internally calibrate "freedom".

 

White hat hackers are coming, and jailbreaking cars will become as commonplace as jailbreaking smartphones.

 

Warranty service on new cars has been a really sick joke for the last six or seven years.
Sure, they repair or replace no questions asked but you end up without a car sometimes for over a month, and obtaining a rental loaner is rare these days.
Chrysler replaced a defective ZF 9-speed slushbox in our Pacifica handicap van without hesitation when it grenaded at 17 thousand miles but we had to wait over a month to get it back.

 

No they won't.
Consumers will just stop buying those products.

There's always another company willing to take market share.

 

Motorcycle dealerships are even worse.