Small wonder used cars are in high demand.
Car companies trying to get on the recurring revenue bandwagon.
Someday, some hacker will start 100,000 cars remotely.
Sort of related....
Actually, there is a feature on my new car that allows me to start it remotely. I think that a lot of new cars can do that. I don’t like it. And it is sold and a convenience.
If you can start the car remotely, then you can certainly turn it off remotely. Or it would be easy to configure it to shut the car off. Can you disable the car completely? Probably.
Third party app to override if your car is paid off. Put old style key in place. Or freshly dead person who turns off cars and it would stop. 2nd amend applies to non government jackasses too
$80 a year is chump change compared to the annual rate of inflation for the cars themselves nowadays ... plus you don’t even need the subscription to start your car.
Soon, a car will be a “service” you subscribe to (you will be nickled and dimed for every little thing) and not something you own.
Remember Cash-for-Clunkers”? I was criticized on FR at the time for saying that it was deliberate to get rid of the non-computerized vehicles and making us dependent on those who controlled the computers.
A question and then a couple of comments:
Since Lexuses are made by Toyota, will or do they have the same issues?
My wife’s Lexus 300 is 15+ years old. It and my getting gray time wise Honda Ridgeline have minimal if any electronic gear. Their doors can be unlocked or locked with the remote and the trunk on my wife’s Lexus.
We keep getting offers to buy our vehicles from smog station people, the national tire service place where we have both vehicles serviced, neighbors and people we don’t know.
One of our sons got an early inheritance of our OJ Simpson Bronco model. He has gotten offers to buy it off and on in the past decade. It recently passed the Ca. smog test, and he got 2 offers before he left the station. After it passed the smog test, he gets offers from strangers and people he knows and long term neighbors. The little year sticker on the rear license plate going out 2 years must be the “tell”!
So, if you don’t have the service hackers can’t remote start your car?
“How about the subscription required for the Mercedes EQS’s rear-wheel steering functionality in Europe? “
DETAILS:
4.5 degree steering standard.
10 degree option $1733 OR $576 per year
10 degree standard on US models
Nah. Your new EV will lock all the doors and drive you to the nearest police station. The police will be notified in advance of your crime and will be waiting to escort you to your cell.
Or maybe your car will drive you to the new North American Gulag in the Yukon Territory.
WHY POST OUT-OF-DATE ARTICLE?
Just buy the base model and you’ll get a hard key. My 2021 Tacoma is a base SR, no FOB.
It’s not tin foil material at all, it will be a reality.
God how I hate the Twenty-First Century!
And, some folks have thought I’m crazy for keeping my old car on the road. Takes a key. No one wants to carjack it at all. No one wants it at all. No one breaks into it. No one keys it. No car payment. AC works very well. Stereo still works (but I don’t listen due to liberal content everywhere). No sunroof to leak. Gets 26-27 mpg. Have fun with all of that computerized stuff on your vehicles. Spent over $400 getting the front shocks repaired due to difficult parts availability. Still a win.
I consistently refuse to pay for any “licenses” along these lines. The dealers try hard to sell you this BS. If enough people refuse to comply the business model will change. There’s always some schmuck that wants the gimmick bad enough though. If they try to sell you something critical like a subscription to start your car then you need to shop for a different car.
TEynwerent making quite enough money apparently so,they took a $1 key and turned it into a couple hundred dollar remote start key fob, AND thye limit you to,a certain amount of the new expensive keys. If you lose more than the allotted amount, they have to replace the whole “anti-theft unit” at a much higher price, znd then you start all over with new keys, which you have to buy in addition to,the new anti-theft unit
Gone,are the days you can walk into an aubechons or Lowes znd get a replication key made for $1,which actually starts your car.
I’m shopping for a brand new SUV now. Looking at the prices, a subscription to anything is insulting.