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.
“You’ll own nothing and like it.”
And if you don’t like it they don’t care.
“low regard for Toyota - they are one of the 3 makes on the market on my “never buy” or “never even consider” list”
I gotta ask what makes you say that?
Because they can and most will pay.
Kia offers that feature but if Toyota offers it they have kept it hidden, I just bought a 22 Highlander they made slight mention of the continuing charge for key fob function. First year is free, there after will be continuing price increase I am sure.
I doubt that would even be possible considering how many sensors are involved. It is even getting impossible to swap parts of same year and model of car. I just saw a guy spend 10 hours tracing down a dead short on a Corvette, a 68 model of all things, and it was a disaster created by a switch in the wiper motor controller.
Even a weak battery can cause all kinds of problems on these new machines. Maybe the right to repair legislation will get through to become universal law some day. I know farmers are plagued by all the proprietary equipment. Millions spent on the new equipment and they are not allowed to repair anything other than flats or leaks, I suppose.
Scotty Kilmer's favorite car claims they run 3 or 400,000 with out a problem if you keep them serviced. I have owned several Toyotas and never had to have one of them repaired other than tires and battery. I have a new Highlander but prefer my 2001 Ford expedition, personally but wife like the Highlander it does have some cool features and comes with 10 year 100 thousand mile bumper to bumper warranty, since I am 83 I won't ever have to repair anything on it never even looked under the hood or anything else. My Ford will likely outlive me without a warranty.
My wife has ‘recycled’ two highlanders to her daughter. She returned the first but still Hass the 2005.
The daughter’s husband drove a Rav-4 for over 20 years.
When you get in your 80’s vehicles like yours and ours may cost a few bucks every other year.
Like you said when you are at our age, those well built vehicles when taken care of, could outlast us.
Before, I bought my Honda Ridgeline, I talked to many neighbors with Honda’s and most were in the 200,000 miles range with basically just normal upkeep and tires. That was close to a decade and many of those vehicles are still running.
One family has had 4 kids in college at once and 2 old Honda’s have been out there with the kids and and still are running.
Why would you nit consider the best made car you can buy according to Scotty Kilmer? And I concur having owned six of them and never spent a dime on repair other than battery and tires. Last one I drove for almost ten years and spent not one dime on repairs.
I used to buy hamburgers 15 for a dollar on Thursday's else they were 10¢ each. A year ago you could still buy two chicken sandwiches for two dollars at McDonalds, now you get two for five dollars.
i know- it’s not cheap anymore- cant get fast food anymore without destroying a $20 bill- even more sometimes-
[[“You’ll own nothing and like it.”]]
[[And if you don’t like it they don’t care.]]
Because unfortunately, there will be enough people that will accept it for convenience sake- so the company’s sales won’t suffer much- the few customers they lose won’t mean much to them-
Yup. Modern inverters are smart which means that they can be hacked. All of the software bells and whistles make a device vulnerable.
Also, few people realize that your roof top solar panels will not work independently of the power grid. The power grid that the solar panel systems connect into goes down and your expensive solar panels stop working too. There should be a provision that allows you to run your home directly from the solar panels. Probably too much load but at least you can charge your cell phones, power a radio, etc.
What was the brand name of the truck? The environment that a car has to operate in is very harsh and extreme. Extreme cold and extreme heat. Electronics designed without this in mind, may not operate correctly. Or poorly designed electronics will not behave properly.
New Toyota cars have the ability to start the car remotely via an phone app. That means that the car has to connect into the internet some way in order to connect to your phone. There is a emergency button that allows you to talk to someone in an emergency. I presume that that bit of electronics connects into the phone network or some other network and ultimately the Internet.
If you can start a car, you (or someone) can probably shut it down too.
I have a 2016 Chevrolet Colorado that includes a remote start. I also had the capability to start my truck remotely from from phone with the OnStar app. The basic service was free for five years (though there were always upgraded subscriptions available.) When my basic service expired, so did my remote start option on my phone. The remote start from my key fob still works, but only within a very short range.
It is a “new and improved” feature. A convenience. But like all new tech, it can be used for wrong or hacked. It would be just like the feds and law enforcement to be able to exploit this feature so I would expect it. It is also a reliability hit to the over all functionality of the car. I could cause your car to break down or not start.
Heck, maybe they just blast the car with an EMP device. That’d be easier.
Toyota offer a low end version of their cars that don’t have a fob and still use a mechanical key. Trying to find one might be a challenge since it is like trying to find a standard transmission version... they either don’t make them or they are scarce.
“Yup. Modern inverters are smart ...”
SMA Sunny Boy has that feature. Will run off grid when the suns out of course.
If you have solar ? save my freeper mail, i’d be glad to share my over 50kw of operation at homes in Florida. Even got solar to supplement a diesel generator output that you will be told, no way.
Excellent! When I was in the market, the solution wouldn’t run without the grid. Good for saving money but definitely not a back up if the power grid goes down.
A stand alone design has to be provide a decent level of power. Or you have to be smart and unplug everything in your home except the few items that you want to charge or to run during a power outage. Or maybe a second power distribution system — main AC and then AC backup. Hey, why not DC in the house? A converter from solar panel DC to low/safety DC would be simpler versus an inverter that takes panel DC converts it to AC and then the AC is converted back to DC (usually at the load and in the device that you are powering). You might even be able to run some AC loads off of the DC power or have some kind of OR configuration. Straight AC motors can’t run off of DC but your average personal computer and other like devices can probably run directly off of DC by plugging the AC cord into your “DC bus.”
I don’t have solar but am interested. Thanks!
Sunny Boy has been doing this for at least 6 years. Limited to one 120 volt outlet and 1500 watts. If your inverter is a 3 to 7 kw unit it will deliver energy in an outage as long as the sunlight provides 1500 watts or more. If you have a big cloud or storm come over, expect to go down for that period of time.
Can’t run anything 240v like a well or hot water heater.
For 240 you need hybrid inverter and batteries
I can help any freeper in those paths. Doing that, been there and still am.
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