Will you subscribe...???
 

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Car companies stand to make billions by charging you monthly fees for add-on features like heated seats

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/car-c...131000075.html



Read more at the link.



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I'd bypass subscriptions. A switch is simple enough to install. Hacks would probably be developed too.

The devil is in the details. How much is the subscription vs how much are they charging for the feature today.

Would I pay $20 a month for heated seats for 4 months of the year when I need them vs $500 upfront? - maybe.

Charging a monthly subscription for autonomous driving features makes a lot of sense considering for them to actually work the manufacturer has to continually update the software and base maps. It is one thing for your GPS to not know where a road is but completely different for your autonomous driving AI to not know a road is closed.

I see this as a HUGE opportunity for people like me that only buy used cars. I would no longer have to search high and low for the car with the correct trim package, buy an expensive trim package to get one feature, or buy things I don't want to get other features I do want. Original owner didn't want heated seats? - no problem just activate them when I buy the car. Same with safety features or my new favorite feature - 360 degree cameras.


Ecomodder is not a good forum to judge whether this will be successful or not. In general - we are cheap. "What if those charges continued long after your car was paid off ?" This isn't a concern for the typical new-car buyer that never pays off a car and always has a car payment.

This also isn't new - it is no different than buying OnStar, Satellite radio, or LTE Wifi. All examples of car subscription services that automakers have been selling us for decades. The hardware is in every car but only activated if a buyer subscribes.

If they are going to charge me to use it, then they better fix it when it breaks. Seat heaters have notoriously short lives and you have to cut open the seat to fix them.

Hack:
https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1644295915

All this makes me like my Superbeetle more. Not that it couldn't be improved with a heated seat. duckduckgo.com/?q=electric+seat+heater+type+I+vw+iax=shopping

Carbon fiber insert for $71, and I already have an upholstery kit?

I think it's already happening: https://www.thecarconnection.com/new...ience-features

.. but I haven't watched its progress.