Posted on 01/17/2022 8:07:13 AM PST by DoodleBob
Remember when BMW wanted to charge drivers to use Apple CarPlay? How about the subscription required for the Mercedes EQS's rear-wheel steering functionality in Europe? It turns out that luxury marques aren't the only ones looking to cash in on that sweet, sweet software as a service cash: Toyota has been testing the waters by making the remote start functionality on your proximity key fob part of a larger connected services subscription.
Yes, it appears the pay-to-play ethos that's spreading around the industry has reached the world's largest automaker. A Toyota spokesperson confirmed to The Drive that if a 2018 or later Toyota is equipped with Toyota's Remote Connect functions, the vehicle must be enrolled in a valid subscription in order for the key fob to start the car remotely. To be clear, what we're talking about is the proximity-based RF remote start system, where you press a button on the fob to start the car while outside of it within a certain distance—say, from your front door to warm up your vehicle in the driveway on a cold morning before you get in. Your fob uses radio waves to communicate with the car, and no connection back to Toyota's servers is needed. But the function will not work without a larger Remote Connect subscription.
It's become more common in recent years for automakers to charge for apps that allow drivers to monitor, lock, or start their cars with their smartphones. As far as we can tell, though, Toyota's the first company to charge for full use of your physical key fob—either $8 a month or $80 a year at the Remote Connect plan's current price.
When buying a new Toyota, buyers have the option to trial Toyota's Connected Services. These can include features like emergency assistance, hotspot connectivity, and app-based services like remote vehicle unlocking and starting. The length of Toyota's trial depends on the vehicle in question, as well the audio package included in the vehicle. For example, vehicles equipped with Audio Plus get a trial of up to three years whereas Premium Audio may have a trial for up to 10 years. Beyond that, drivers will need to pay for a subscription to continue using the key fob's remote start.
It also might not be obvious when buying a new Toyota that the remote start function is tied to a subscription. For example, the dealer video below shows a brief overview from a salesperson who states that the key should work on certain Toyotas "as long as [they have] Audio Plus"—no mention of the trial period or required subscription once that ends.
News of Toyota's decision surfaced on Reddit last month after an eagle-eyed user spotted some wording in Toyota's Remote Connect marketing materials that suggested an ongoing subscription would be required for drivers to start their car remotely with their key fob. The phrasing was confusing, and some wondered whether Toyota would actually take this step. A peek at various Toyota forums shows some owners have been reckoning with this possibility for a couple years now, though with many 2018 or newer Toyotas still within their subscription trial periods, it's entirely possible that most drivers are unaware of the arrangement.
Though the thread on Reddit was eventually labeled "Potentially Misleading" by moderators after garnering hundreds of comments, Toyota's response to The Drive was unequivocal: A paid subscription is required for the key fob's remote start function to work for every single model.
Ten years might seem like a long time. According to a study by iSeeCars, the average vehicle owner keeps their car for around 8.4 years. Toyota is ranked as the longest-kept manufacturer, with the average vehicle ownership lasting nine years. Cars are also lasting longer than ever with the average age of vehicles on the road being 12.1 years old, meaning that people are keeping new and used rides longer than ever. It's plausible that a vehicle will change hands during that 10-year trial period, leading to the remote start function deactivating after someone purchases the vehicle used. But it's just as plausible that the original owner will have to pay up.
What's even more unknown is how technology might affect something like this in the future. For example, cellular providers in the U.S. have earmarked the end of the 3G cellular network, a technology that many vehicles rely on today in order to call home to the mothership, so to speak. We've got a whole explainer on that available here, but the long and the short of it is that the situation is particularly dire for Toyota owners.
While some other manufacturers are retrofitting vehicles to be compatible with newer LTE networks, Toyota is discontinuing Connected Services support for the affected vehicles, all of which are model year 2019 or earlier. A Toyota spokesperson confirmed to The Drive that it has no plans to offer an upgrade, paid or otherwise, to vehicles affected by the 3G shutdown. Perhaps not coincidentally, the automaker also announced that it has "enhanced" vehicles built before Nov. 12, 2018, to no longer require a subscription for the key fob's remote start feature to function.
It's pretty clear that consumers aren't exactly rooting for subscription services in the auto industry. Toyota's example feels a bit egregious; it would be different if the key required a separate cellular connection or paired with the owner's phone via bluetooth and utilized the app's baked-in connectivity. But this is a physical key fob that needs to communicate directly with the vehicle via radio frequency—no remote connection back to Toyota is needed. So why require a subscription?
Update 12/11/2021 @ 2:20 pm ET: The story has been updated to clarify that the key fob's proximity-based radio frequency remote start function will not work without a paid subscription to Toyota's Remote Connect suite of connected services. The Drive regrets any confusion the original copy may have caused.
One common cause of that is a low battery in the fob. I replaced mine and my mysterious door-openings stopped.
Thanks, I’ll remember that if it happens again. Only happened with that one truck, but if it happens with another, ill check that first.
More like
“you are not allowed access. the scale told me your BMI is to high”
“force the to replace the whole antilock device if they lose their allotted number of keys”
What is the allotted number of keys?
I remember back in the day I was courier.. I bought a brand new Geo Metro (50 MPG, no brainer)
dealer asked “do you want oil changes for 100 dollars a year?
How many oil changes a year?
one every 3000 miles, no limit to the number per year.
That’s the only automotive subscription I did ;)
300 bucks for 425,000 miles worth of oil changes. Then I got rear-ended the car totaled and the dealer had dropped the program for “commercial” drivers.
some fancier ones had battery protection, if it got to low it would start.
others had temp sensors and would start once in a while when it got really cold.
likely one of those two options setup in it.
It is not merely recurring revenue, it is revenue technology is/will be tying to your identity.
When it comes to the misuse of technology, I believe in Murphy’s Law - if it can happen it will happen.
I didn’t see in the article how much this will be.
I have that option but never use it and I would not pay for it either.
That was in a Fast & Furious Movie as part of the plot.
Yup, that sounds like what it was. It woild come on at like -20 or so (the house woild be snapping znd creaking from the cold, waking me up, then the engine starts up- first time it happened I didn’t know what was going on lol)
I c ant recall now. I had lost 2 keys from corrola, went and had another 2 made, (I still had 2 back home, but the way I lose things I needed to have more), and was told that I was “getting close to the limit”, and they explained what would happen if it went over the amount. This was from the dealer.
“What I am saying is that we had perfectly good working keys we could get for $1,”
The fob does much more.
Yes, I think you are missing the point. It used to,be cheap to,get a key, and as many replacement keys as you wanted for cars, but then so eone thought of a way to,force people to buy very expensive chipped keys and anti theft devises which have to be replaced if too many chipped keys are ordered (according to the dealer I spoke, with). The point I’m trying to make,is that it’s a money making scheme for the company. While it woild be fine to,offer it as an option to folks who want it, that isn’t the case, and they have forced everyone to get it now.
And now we see a new “service” where the car is controlled remotely- how,long before that service becomes mandatory too?
425K miles, that’s return on investment!
A friend of mine had a F150 he used for hunting and hauling. His daily commuter car, a Geo Metro. At one point the driver side door wouldn’t close, so he just tied bungee cord to it. Rust finally killed it.
-PJ
“The point I’m trying to make,is that it’s a money making scheme for the company. “
As was the electric starter
dealer never noticed (or didn’t care) but I replaced the engine/transmission with junk yard units a few times ;)
“It used to,be cheap to,get a key, “
Or just use a screwdriver.
“Acura is doing the same thing, but via an app.”
Toyota uses app. Item in article is an undocumented feature.
All my extremely expensive software turned to subscription costing me tens of thousands a year now. And now thanks to the “vaccinations” anyone who took it will be subscribing to pfizer just to stay alive and leave the house. Required monthly “boosters” are sure to be coming.
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