[yesthatjallen]

You'll pay monthly fees and be happy.

[Alberta's Child]

The only way I would even consider this arrangement is if I’m leasing the car. Otherwise, I wouldn’t pay a nickel to maintain or upgrade the functionality of a single feature on the car after I drove it off the dealership lot.

[BenLurkin]

I have another dumb question: Can cars being sold today be disconnected from the internet permanently?

[rightwingcrazy]

This business model came into vogue about a decade ago. It’s a means to easy money, and every industry seems to be seeking a piece of the action.

[DannyTN]

I could see paying a monthly support fee for updates to automated driving technology, but not for heated seats.

[Hildy]

It’s a choice, like anything. If you want the extras you’ll pay for them. Why does anyone else care?

[AnotherUnixGeek]

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

If it's a lease, I'll consider such subscription-based features to be part of the lease cost and choose the ones I want.

If I buy the car, the manufacturer can go pound sand. I will do whatever I please with my property, and that will include using firmware flashes to enable every feature on the car that I want enabled.

[Army Air Corps]

Custom car culture looks better every day.

[taxcontrol]

I predict new car sales will fall drasticly.

[JesusIsLord]

“There’s a sucker born every minute!”

[V_TWIN]

“$5 each month for the ability to lock and unlock your car from a distance through an app? What about a $25-per-month charge for advanced cruise control or $10 to access heated seats?”

I dint have any of that crap now so why would I?

Heated seats ain’t real popular where I’m at. Lol

[Chode]

i see used car prices going up the closer to this insanity we get...

[WMarshal]

Maybe I should start a business that jailbreaks cars to disable all this “theft by software” immediately after the manufacturer warranty expires.

[njmaugbill]

There will be chips to reverse this in a New York minute !

[glorgau]

> , owners can add on the features they want à la carte.

Which means the “features” are there, but not enabled.

[VanShuyten]

It sounds much like the idea Microsoft was tossing around about charging a $5 monthly fee for Windows updates and security updates.

[aspasia]

On the bright side, we voted in legislators willing to let us drive 80 mph.

And Sen. John Tester (D-MT) has introduced Agriculture Right to Repair Act, so there's that.

[SamAdams76]

The "aas" (as a service) business model has been picking up steam.

Take home printers for instance. Used to be you bought a printer and then purchased toner/ink as you needed it. Now for say $15/mo you get toner/ink cartridge sent to you automatically as your printer calls for it.

For some heavy users, the company may have to send you a cartridge every month or so and take a loss. But for the majority of others, a cartridge might be needed only once every year or so, allowing for hefty margins.

Overall, "printing-as-a-service" is very lucrative.

Many other examples abound such as Microsoft Office 365.

[pnz1]

Right now Fords free to lock/unlock/start from app. My understanding is GM you have to pay

[Bob434]

For $40 you can by a heated seat pad that plugs into cigarette lighter... no monthly fee

[mewzilla]

Buy a base trim.

Problem solved for the most part.