More greed from Auto manufacturers
- Thread starter nicobie
- Start date
Why would there be?
People have proven willing to do this for their computers and their phones for quite some time, as well as their entertainment devices/etc., so why not their cars? Most likely it also applies to smart household appliances but I have no experience with these.
Businesses in general will do whatever makes them the most profit, for as long as their customers will tolerate it.
As soon as another business sees this happening, they will take up the same model or a worse one, until it spreads among most of them.
It won't stop until consumers refuse to buy from them...and if it is something the average consumer is unwilling to live without that isn't provided by any business not using that model...it won't change, only get worse.
CONSIDERABLE SHOUTING
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Sadly Amber's got it. Unless their wallet is affected from this choice, they will continue to squeeze.
BMW being BMW!
One of my first cars was a mechanic's special e36 328i.. it needed a lot of little repairs, and it was the car i learned auto mechanics on.
There were parts on that car that were designed to fail by a certain period of time, like a plastic water pump.
After my experience with American cars, then German ones, i went with Japanese cars, preferably built in Japan, ever since, because i have yet to encounter any serious atrocities of engineering or customer screwery yet.
One of my first cars was a mechanic's special e36 328i.. it needed a lot of little repairs, and it was the car i learned auto mechanics on.
There were parts on that car that were designed to fail by a certain period of time, like a plastic water pump.
After my experience with American cars, then German ones, i went with Japanese cars, preferably built in Japan, ever since, because i have yet to encounter any serious atrocities of engineering or customer screwery yet.
nicobie
100 MW
How depressing.
offGridDownUnder
10 kW
I would say that the problem is ultimately people's willingness to ignore their affect on others in favor of pursuing their own whims and urges, which translates to a willingness to pretend that others are not as worthwhile as my urges.
Pretending, lying, willful ignorance, blaming, denying, demonizing - all cheap and easy ways to make getting what I want an option (or so it seems, so I'll grab for it).
Actually acknowledging others as the same as me means admitting I can't have what I want sometimes.
Pretending, lying, willful ignorance, blaming, denying, demonizing - all cheap and easy ways to make getting what I want an option (or so it seems, so I'll grab for it).
Actually acknowledging others as the same as me means admitting I can't have what I want sometimes.
This is not how it works if customers have a lot of choices, not only from multiple domestic companies, but many globally.
Why would they if it's something unpopular with the consumer? There is no collusion in the global auto industry that I'm aware of.
Toyota already decided this is a bad idea for business.
Toyota 'Reviewing' Key Fob Remote Start Subscription Plan After Massive Blowback
A spokesperson told The Drive that making the key fob remote start part of a subscription plan was an "unintentional" move.
www.thedrive.com
j bjork
1 MW
Audi has similar subscriptions on functions too. It started with certain third party services that seemed reasonable to have a fee for. But now it is advanced headlights and stuff where you had to pay extra for the hardware before.
Now you get the hardware from the factory, but have to pay to use it, super annoying
Now you get the hardware from the factory, but have to pay to use it, super annoying
CONSIDERABLE SHOUTING
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Because corporations can make bad decisions and collude with one another, just like us. Plenty of people will put up with terrible stuff just to stay with "assured" brands or items- think about how long it took domestic american car makers to compete with Japan, for instance.
nicobie
100 MW
Before we bought our first Volt we had a Hyundai Elantra. It was the most dependable car we have ever owned, and that includes the Volt.
Personally, i think they still haven't caught up, lol.
Hyundais seem to be very hit/miss. Some generations of Elantra were super reliable though. I get it!
BMW is definitely not DIY-friendly.
An aquaintance has a BMW i3 BEV. He likes to proselytize all the car's good points and advantages, to the point where I thought about acquiring one some day. Then I did some research. Oddball size tires (one source) that no other car/model uses, and even oddball size windshield wipers. I went thru that when I owned my Moulton AM7 bicycle with its oddball size tires/one mfr. source. (No competition means the price remains artificially high and quality control can remain sloppy. Plus scarce supply options.) Believe recent owners of the latest RadWagon v4 cargobike are only now receiving their replacement oddball tire size tires in that (going on 1 year?) recall campaign.
But almost any maintenance procedure on the i3 is not DIY-able. For example, even replacing the 12V lead-acid battery requires reprogramming from the official BMW software. What is the reason for that other than to assure continued revenue for the authorized BMW service centers?
An aquaintance has a BMW i3 BEV. He likes to proselytize all the car's good points and advantages, to the point where I thought about acquiring one some day. Then I did some research. Oddball size tires (one source) that no other car/model uses, and even oddball size windshield wipers. I went thru that when I owned my Moulton AM7 bicycle with its oddball size tires/one mfr. source. (No competition means the price remains artificially high and quality control can remain sloppy. Plus scarce supply options.) Believe recent owners of the latest RadWagon v4 cargobike are only now receiving their replacement oddball tire size tires in that (going on 1 year?) recall campaign.
But almost any maintenance procedure on the i3 is not DIY-able. For example, even replacing the 12V lead-acid battery requires reprogramming from the official BMW software. What is the reason for that other than to assure continued revenue for the authorized BMW service centers?
Wow, that racket has gotten WAY worse since the 90's...
CONSIDERABLE SHOUTING
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Yeah, or BMW removing dipsticks completely in favor of sensors and programming that detect oil color change. Sure, less holes (especially ones made to be easily opened) means less dirt inside the engine, but it's real purpose is because BMW knows it's gonna make you take it to the dealer because like hell Joe Schmoe is gonna measure out 5.1 liters of oil or whatever. I think most of them also have to have their ECUs flashed to tell the computer it's been changed.
nicobie
100 MW
My Volt does that and it pisses me off. My wife sees "air filter needs changing" flashing on the dashboard and insists on going to the dealer to get it changed even though the car has less than 500 miles driven on gas. I think I could cancel the prompt, but she won't let me. 
CONSIDERABLE SHOUTING
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Do you have an OBD2 scanner? If you snag one you'll be able to clear it yourself.My Volt does that and it pisses me off. My wife sees "air filter needs changing" flashing on the dashboard and insists on going to the dealer to get it changed even though the car has less than 500 miles driven on gas. I think I could cancel the prompt, but she won't let me.
nicobie
100 MW
Yes I do.
But the problem is my wife. She thinks I'm a cheap bastard. Needs to do it herself.
scianiac
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This sounds great to me, can't wait until half the price of the car is microtransactions to enable features then making the cars have zero resale value so I can buy them for nothing and then just hack all the features on. I mean heated seats, what you think I can't install a switch into some wires, maybe throw in a PWM or temperature controller for a few bucks extra. Hacking features on and disabling paywalls will become a whole sub-genre of car modding and there will be a whole market of companies selling tuning chips that enable features.
Just show her how much the OBD2 scanner cost.
Whatever happened to simply popping of the air cleaner cover and visually inspecting the media?
Hillhater
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marty
10 MW
My Volt does that and it pisses me off. My wife sees "air filter needs changing" flashing on the dashboard and insists on going to the dealer to get it changed even though the car has less than 500 miles driven on gas. I think I could cancel the prompt, but she won't let me.
OBD scanner is used to read and [sometimes] erase codes. Think check engine light.
"air filter needs changing" is a maintenance reminder. Look in owners manual for instructions on how to reset that.
You can send your wife to a Wife Training School. Teach her how to reset maintenance reminders and lots more.
Dear Steve at The Seabreeze News
"Dear Steve's Wife Training School" will start excepting applications soon. If you Men are unhappy with your wife's preformance or attitude sign her up. If your girlfriends or future wives need to...
www.facebook.com
Aside from them being awful-sexist, they would probably have more students if they *ac*cepted applications instead, and could do a better job of spelling in general. :/
nicobie
100 MW
I had never thought of it that way.
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