Mercedes Locks Faster Acceleration Behind a $1,200 Annual Paywall (theverge.com) 249
Mercedes is the latest manufacturer to lock auto features behind a subscription fee, with an upcoming "Acceleration Increase" add-on that lets drivers pay to access motor performance their vehicle is already capable of. From a report: The $1,200 yearly subscription improves performance by boosting output from the motors by 20-24 percent, increasing torque, and shaving around 0.8 to 0.9 seconds off 0-60 mph acceleration when in Dynamic drive mode. The subscription doesn't come with any physical hardware upgrades -- instead, it simply unlocks the full capabilities of the vehicle, indicating that Mercedes intentionally limited performance to later sell as an optional extra. Acceleration Increase is only available for the Mercedes-EQ EQE and Mercedes-EQ EQS electric car models. As global sales for new cars have fallen in recent years, car manufacturers have pivoted toward selling software updates and features as subscriptions to generate a continuous revenue stream long after a car has been purchased.
Just pretend it doesn't exist (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Just pretend it doesn't exist (Score:5, Insightful)
This is simply an "idiot tax".
Anyone who would pay so much money for a vehicle that was effectively ankle-tapped with some of its performance held to ransom for a $1,200/mo fee deserves everything they get. I have no sympathy or concerns.
Remember, if nobody is stupid enough to pay this ransom then the manufacturers will soon learn that it's not a viable business model.
Re: Just pretend it doesn't exist (Score:2)
Re:Just pretend it doesn't exist (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:3)
This is simply an "idiot tax".
I'm not sure how it's any different from (eg.) paying an extra $7000 for the more powerful model at the showroom.
Re: (Score:3)
With this being just a software "switch", it means that the parts needed are already there, and I am already paying for the "more powerful" model. They aren't going to sell the vehicle at a loss for the more powerful parts in vain hoping that I might pay the extra $1,200 a year so they can break even/make a profit from the vehicle's sale in the future. They will make sure that the price already takes the physical pa
Re: (Score:3)
usually when something costs more, it's because it costs more for the person making it.
That's not true for millions of items. You think a designer t-shirt costs 10x more to make than a walmart t-shirt?
How about a Luis Vuitton towel? Why are they $600?
Goods are worth exactly what people are prepared to pay for them.
Not that simple with EVs (Score:3)
A big part of the price of an EV is the warranty coverage on the battery pack. Frequent use of hard acceleration leads to more charge cycles and reduced battery life. It's actually not that unreasonable for the car companies to offer the same battery pack with different levels of available power output.
This reasoning is less applicable for IC engines, which is probably why it wasn't done before. It doesn't make sense to charge customers to activate more cylinders to turn their V6 into a V8, but batteries
Re: (Score:2)
There could be insurance implications too. In Europe when you get insurance you have to tell the company what car you are insuring so they can quote you based on things like how desirable to steal it is, and how much performance it has.
If you boost the performance without informing them, and get into an accident, they could invalidate your insurance for not disclosing a modification to the car.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
This will come as a shock to most people not involved in manufacturing, but it actually is less expensive to make fewer variants at higher performance profiles than it is to make each car bespoke to the specifications that owner is willing to pay for. It lowers the cost for the higher end variant, since the process costs are spread among more units, and i
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Some of what you say is false. CPUs with lower core counts may use a different die. Some CPUs have to be sold in lower core counts due to defects, making it a salvaged die. This really isn't the same thing.
Plus you don't pay a subscription fee for higher core counts. Though Intel means to change that with SDSi.
Re: Just pretend it doesn't exist (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
IBM charges annual subscription fees to enable "dark" CPUs and memory in machines that have been purchased. Though they are flexible and allow the transfer of entitlement from one machine to another dynamically (useful if you're doing hardware maintenance, you can dial down the hardware you're shutting down to 0 and redistribute its activations to the other machines in your environment). You can pre-purchase temporary extra CPU activation days for cases where you temporarily find yourself hitting limits (l
Re: (Score:2)
I know nothing about the Mercedes' in question here. As long as they can go 25pm to 60mph in the length of an urban merg
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
The objection is that the manufacturer pockets the savings and the end user gets stuck with renting rather than owning, and the continuing vulnerability to having features stolen away at the manufacturer's whim.
If the market was actually healthy, they would be forced to enable the features full time (saving the cost of development and infrastructure for doing the rental or even buying after the sale.) in order to remain competitive.
One wonders how they might react is someone disconnects the phone home hardw
Re: Just pretend it doesn't exist (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That's fine, But we SHOULD get legislation requiring an upfront Price Disclosure at the time of sale for any Subscription Unlock of access to hardware capabilities in a vehicle And Prohibit changing the price or Locking
features that were not part of a disclosed separate paid subscription at the time a vehicle was pruchased.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe preventing the opposite problem. Consider this - car maker produces new car line, cheap!, wildly popular, so millions on the road in the first year. Buried in the fine print of the sale paperwork is a clause about engine profile and the mention of a one year trial subscription.
A year or so later... bam! You find out why they sold it cheap upfront. All the cars sold lose all decent acceleration, have a top speed of 50, and basically act like the car is in "limp home crippled" mode. And then hold
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Brave New World (Score:5, Interesting)
RMS and his essay "The Right to read" is still quite spot on, isn't it?
Re:Brave New World (Score:5, Informative)
"From The Road To Tycho, a collection of articles about the antecedents of the Lunarian Revolution, published in Luna City in 2096"
Greedy (Score:2)
I'm amazed at the greed of this move. It also draws attention to the fact that norms are what keep people and companies from being horrible, rather than laws or established rights. Of course Mercedes wants to make as much money as they can, but I would have thought that desire would have been kept in check by the norm of when Jack buys a car and Jill buys the same car, they've gotten the same car afterwards (and if one of them has performance problems, the manufacturer is obligated to fix it or replace it).
if they can do this then dealer only service is ne (Score:5, Interesting)
if they can do this then dealer only service is next.
Miss that oil change at the dealer and next thing you know your car is locked into limp mode.
Well that's capitalism at its best (Score:2)
You pay for a feature to be integrated, you pay all the costs associated with it, yet you have to pay an additional fee because some malware installed by the manufacturer blocks you from using it.
That should be illegal, however we are talking about a premium car manufacturer here. For them it's an attempt to continue growing in a market that is stagnating and will shrink in the near future. Fewer and fewer people will see the car as a status symbol. They will prefer home office to spending their mornings an
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That's not the strategy. The current strategy is to raise the average price they charge per car. This is what caused the SUV boom in Germany for example. If your car is 3 times heavier than a normal one, twice the price seems like a bargain. This is also why, at least in Germany, they build more and more expensive looking gimmicks into cars.
Re: (Score:2)
Of course it seems that car manufacturers are somewhat disconnected from reality. There used to be reasons to want newer and better cars. Like real advances in safety technology.
Re: Well that's capitalism at its best (Score:2)
You think the PHEV is your last car until the condensation in the oil and exhaust kills it just after its warranty; it's battery is just a smidge smaller than needed. You revel in the cleverness of planned obsolescence.
Re: (Score:2)
That just doesn't work in case of vehicles, even in best case "100% bootlicking" scenario. You still have to make a heavier, harder to maintain engine with heavier chassis to take the extra structural loads. Which need to still be hauled, now even in the base model that doesn't need them.
When I bought my current family sedan, I chose to get the rare top of the line engine. It came with a list of added costs, ranging from specific fuel limitations to needing a better gearbox to take the load among other thin
Re: (Score:2)
But unlike me, they won't be able to use them, unless they also subscribe to manufacturer's "recurring revenue stream" plan. Because all those extra things needed to make the vehicle able to both generate and take more power will be built in.
On the bright side, their downrated engine and heavy duty transmission will probably last a lot longer than if they had the cheap engine and transmission.
Conversely, many people (myself included) chip or flash their ECU, and sometimes their transmission as well, for better performance. There is an implicit understanding of the risk of long term reduced reliability in doing so.
Re: (Score:3)
>Yes. More boost, more power
Actually, the exact opposite. Higher octane gasoline generates lower power in engines that don't compress it enough. Just like too heavy of a gearbox would reduce power from an insufficiently powerful engine.
Most people don't seem to know this, but overbuilding things reduces performance. Just like underbuilding them reduces durability. This is why much of engineering is about finding the optimal middle point between the two.
That's fine (Score:3, Interesting)
The people who care will pay. The people that don't won't.
Very few people are going to take the upgrade. Those that do will get off the line a bit faster and it will make them happy.
Win-win.
Re:That's fine (Score:5, Interesting)
This get popular, it will continue to snow ball until they run outta idea to fix it.
I guess it's fine (Score:5, Interesting)
And besides that, we shouldn't be letting companies use fake subscriptions to drain us of every penny. It's anti-social behavior. yeah, they're doing it on luxury items first. That's because they're trying to get us used to it.
When somebody does something bad to you the correct response is not to shrug your shoulders. And given how few auto manufacturers there are, how much gov't subsidies they get (I'm including roads in that, also the military that secures the oil and materials needed to build their product) you can't just leave it up to the "free" market.
Re: (Score:3)
i dare not imagine the style of driving you have in your mind for which _accelerating_ is a way to handle an unexpected dangerous situation.
the only case that I can think of that depends on _keeping the foot down_ is taking a bend, going at top speed and at the absolute limit of lateral traction.
As you can imagine, that, is a situation that _should not be occuring in the first place_. You do _not_ bring a car to that condition.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I've got one for you - happened to me personally. I'd just dropped off a girl at home and was cruising through a wide open intersection with a traffic light. This was many years ago.
Light was green for 30 seconds before I got there, and was still green after I rolled through it going straight.
In the middle of the intersection I just saw headlights out my drivers window - huge, bright and right in my face. I punched the gas pedal and for once the older, used, kind of balky car I was driving responded.
The
You'll never need that acceleration (Score:3)
Fast acceleration is usually the wrong choice in any kind of traffic situation.
Are you going to speed up so that you can miss that mid-air deer? No.
Are you going to speed up so you won't get rear-ended at a traffic light? No.
Are you going to speed up so you don't get t-boned by the car you didn't see who's running their light? No.
Are you going to jump that drawbridge? No.
Are you going to beat that train? No.
Re: (Score:3)
until you needed that acceleration to get out of the way of an accident.
NO. You are *never* to accelerate out of an accident. Who taught you that. The human reaction speed for logical thought is not capable of making anyone "accelerate to get out of the way of an accident". It's literally why every save driving course teaches you to engage one pedal and one pedal only: the brake.
Your car's ability to change speed in a way to avoid an accident is non existent, even if you do have a 500bhp V8.
Not even reading the rest of your post because I can't get over that incredibly stupid a
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
This is just the beginning. Look how in-app purchases on phones went, where games went from awesome on mobile to medicore at best, and highly expensive compared to everything else. People happily pay $1000+ so they can get blueprints for their next level ship or tank. If this isn't fought, tooth and nail, all cars may just require a subscription fee just for the privilege to start and move.
Performance vs. seat heaters (Score:4, Insightful)
If they're locking you out of heated seats, that's crap. Unless they are poorly designed they don't degrade from use. But performance costs money, so increased performance on a vehicle with a warranty makes some sense.
Either way, I'm over German cars. They are too overwrought instead of overbuilt like they were into the eighties. The Japanese know how to simplify, the Germans just throw money at problems with predictably expensive results.
Re: (Score:2)
"They are too overwrought instead of overbuilt "
Can you clarify that with examples, for those of us who don't have much experience of German cars?
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
BMWs are famous for running out of blinker fluid, which makes the turn signals stop working. Often this happens as soon as the customer sits in the car, and goes to turn out of the dealer's lot.
Re:Performance vs. seat heaters (Score:5, Informative)
"They are too overwrought instead of overbuilt "
Can you clarify that with examples, for those of us who don't have much experience of German cars?
They are just overly complicated. It takes them 11 climate servos to do what Japanese cars achieve with 7, shit like that. And then they go to epic lengths to lock you out of the hardware on top of that. You need a factory scan tool to enable cruise control. Service tools are expensive AF, like it's $500 in special shit you really need to do a head job on an Audi V8, same job on a Ford V8 only takes $100 in stuff. (I won't buy another Ford either though to be fair, still too much of a bitch to work on because of how far back they set the motor, even in pickup trucks.)
Re:Performance vs. seat heaters (Score:5, Interesting)
"They are too overwrought instead of overbuilt "
Can you clarify that with examples, for those of us who don't have much experience of German cars?
They are just overly complicated. It takes them 11 climate servos to do what Japanese cars achieve with 7, shit like that. And then they go to epic lengths to lock you out of the hardware on top of that. You need a factory scan tool to enable cruise control. Service tools are expensive AF, like it's $500 in special shit you really need to do a head job on an Audi V8, same job on a Ford V8 only takes $100 in stuff. (I won't buy another Ford either though to be fair, still too much of a bitch to work on because of how far back they set the motor, even in pickup trucks.)
I bought my son a BMW as a wedding present, and that car was a super pain in the ass. Everything about it was overpriced, complicated way beyond need. It wasn't reliable either. That one car changed my mind about the state of German engineering, which until then I believed was the ultimate. Maybe at one time.
He drives a Jeep now, and it's overall a much better vehicle. Much less expensive to operate and maintain, and reliable.
Re: (Score:3)
I bought my son a BMW as a wedding present, and that car was a super pain in the ass. Everything about it was overpriced, complicated way beyond need. It wasn't reliable either. That one car changed my mind about the state of German engineering, which until then I believed was the ultimate. Maybe at one time.
They really were the best until the mid-eighties. Then they started doing the same penny pinching stuff everyone else was doing. The problem is, they're not very good at it, because for them it's never been a necessity except for a short period after WWII. The Japanese are the masters, possibly because they always have had to figure out how to economize on their little island.
The way my dad put it, and he was not any kind of mechanic really so I don't know who explained it to him, was dead on. The Germans b
Re: (Score:2)
The amusing thing is that people bash Jeep for quality assurance. Ironically, from what I have seen, Jeeps are surprisingly decent vehicles, and when I rented a Jeep and a specific luxury brand of crossover, the Jeep was better thought out, while the luxury brand had more features... but more stuff to break.
Ford, similar. Ford is often mocked, but overall, I've had great luck with them, and my old backup vehicle, it is cheaper to buy new headlight assemblies when they become yellow than it is to buy the h
Re: (Score:2)
I worked for a German test and measurement company up until about a year ago. Can confirm that claims of german excellence in engineering are an overblown myth. Like any company they had good and bad parts, but the extremely conservative culture was a farce. Decision making was terribly slow, to the point where the running joke was that the development product roadmap was to just copy whatever the main competitor had already begun shipping. A lot of their business plan centered around selling to countri
Re: (Score:2)
I bought my son a BMW as a wedding present, and that car was a super pain in the ass.
You bought him a new BMW or an out of warranty one?
I've been very happy with my 4 BMWs so far, but I don't keep them much out of (extended) warranty. I know lots of people who have no problem maintaining older BMWs though. Yeah, parts are sometimes expensive, and you do need some special tools, but I don't think they are notably worse than other high end marques in this regard.
But yeah, if you want reliability over all else then Japanese is the way to go.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
If they're locking you out of heated seats, that's crap.
You're not locked out of anything. You're getting exactly what you paid for, with hardware working 100% as advertised. Bonus points is that a savvy hacker may give you some extra features your car didn't have for free, extra bonus is that one day in the future you may be able to buy an extra feature without needing a new car.
Re: (Score:2)
You're not locked out of anything. You're getting exactly what you paid for, with hardware working 100% as advertised. Bonus points is that a savvy hacker may give you some extra features your car didn't have for free
That was my thought as well. There isn't much to taking care of the heat simply, wires and switches. I'd probably add some temperature sensing so it would turn them on automatically.
Re: (Score:2)
That was my thought as well. There isn't much to taking care of the heat simply, wires and switches. I'd probably add some temperature sensing so it would turn them on automatically.
Just wait till they integrate DRM chips right into the heating element in a non-removable way. All the extra costs to lock the customer out will just be paid by the customer so what’s the problem? Hell, they will likely just make the car not start at all if it can’t properly authenticate all the services the vehicle offers. /s
Re: (Score:2)
My only laptop runs Linux and is doing media center duties, so as an alternative I have Protool installed on my phone.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Telsa's been doing this for years (Score:5, Informative)
Tesla is the reason other manufacturers got the idea to do it.
As a long-time Tesla owner and fan, I have to say this is one of the things I strongly dislike with them. I feel like any feature you have to pay extra to receive on a vehicle should be because it has physical differences -- not just removal of an artificial software restriction on an ability it already has.
There are aftermarket devices for Tesla Model 3's to unlock the performance you're sold as a software update, if you want to go the "hack" route. But IMO, it's not even worth it since Tesla could update their code at any time to disable those devices. And at resale time, you'll be hard-pressed to get much extra money for your vehicle just because you added something like that to it.
In Tesla's defense though? They did initially have physical differences between buying a "Performance" edition vs. a regular version of a Model 3. The rear motors were larger/higher amperage. I believe they only started the software limits when they concluded it was less costly for them to just build ALL of the car with the same size motors. So it was sort of an attempt to preserve their status quo, more than an idea on a brand new vehicle to pad profit margins.
Re:Telsa's been doing this for years (Score:5, Insightful)
One-time payment to software unlock functionality is fine.
No it's not. If the hardware is in the card, then it's already paid for. It's abusive to ask for more money to enable it.
Video Game Scam (Score:5, Funny)
They've learned from scammy video games. The next tactic will be random features in loot boxes. "Oh you didn't get the feature you wanted? Try again."
Re: (Score:3)
I got 'FM Radio' 86 times! Those boxes are a scam.
Re:Telsa's been doing this for years (Score:5, Funny)
We got to see a little bit of this on the Ferengi homeworld on DS9. Taking the stairs in a building was free but the elevator would cost you. Standing in the waiting room was free but a chair would also cost you. Capitalism baby!
Excellent (Score:2, Insightful)
I always love it when the rich subsidise something I like which has features I may not care about.
Everyone saying "but I own it": Remember you are getting exactly what was advertised for you for the dollars, and it's your car to do with what you want.
Rather than whining like an entitled twat, consider that you have the ability to have a software hack give you free performance upgrade you didn't even pay for.
Re: (Score:3)
Mercedes will find a way to punish you if you start firmware hacking. Or they will at least try.
Re: (Score:2)
I work for a large computer company and we have firmware upgrades to increase performance of the system. Some people are hacking the firmware and upgrading it to give better performance. They have been prosecuted for doing so.
Re: (Score:2)
Prosecuted for what? Or do you mean sued?
Re: (Score:3)
Rather than whining like an entitled twat, consider that you have the ability to have a software hack give you free performance upgrade you didn't even pay for.
The main point that you get what you paid for is quite true. But I fear in the future they might deactivate or degrade features that were supposed to be included. (And I would think that illegal.)
But as it stands today, it's "not your car to do with as you want". If you modify the car with a software hack, that is probably a breach of contract. Likely even a crime.
Mark my words: You will see people sued and even sent to prison for trying to hack the cars they "own".
I also have a problem with not being able
Re: (Score:2)
"Probably a breach of contract or even a crime"? Where do you come up with this crap? In 40 years of car buying I have never signed "a contract" (other than for financing) in order to purchase a car. And what "crime" do you imagine you could possibly have committed (other than by either making the car unsafe or tampering with emission controls)?
Re: (Score:2)
MY biggest concern with a system like this is the slimy dealer will sell you the car with all the bells and whistles enabled, without telling you that they all have a shelf-life. After you get past the 2 year trial period all the fancy stuff turns off. When you call the dealer to figure out why your heated seats no longer work they refer you to the bottom of page 638 of the user manual where it states "all complementary features will require payment after the 24 month trial period." Or maybe when you go t
Re: (Score:3)
The problem with software hacks is that the government can come down on people like a ton of bricks with the DMCA. That, and have the car self-brick itself and the car maker say that is done as a "safety feature, to keep unauthorized vehicles off the roads".
This dovetails right into the entire right to repair thing. On one end, we get right to repair. The other end, we will be paying subscriptions in order to start the vehicle without having to wait five minutes for an interactive ad to complete.
Or: Mercedes charges extra to offset future issues (Score:2)
Trying to not take the cynical viewpoint here (which is really hard to do), but while the car may be capable of the extra acceleration, that doesn't mean the extra acceleration is good for the car. And that the sort of people who would pay for this function are the sort of people who could cause issues for Mercedes by abusing that function. (What do you mean I can't do 0-60-0-60-0-60 over and over again in 5 minutes with out screwing my car up?)
So by charging for this feature, they are 1) Reducing the num
Re: (Score:2)
There's a rumor that doing a lot of fast accelerations in a Tesla Plaid edition will stress and break the motor mounts.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The extra cost due to stress would only make sense if they stopped charging you once the car was out of warranty since all the cost of fixing the problem are now the drivers, and from what I here fixing a Mercedes isn't cheap. In fact they would probably make money on it.
Even before the warranty expired should there be a warning saying using this extra feature may damage your car? But they are not saying this because saying pay us $1,200 per year to enable a feature that has the potential to damage your car
Re: (Score:3)
I'd like to see all cars requiring a special subscription to be able to drive above the speed limit. And car manufacturers being liable for all injuries caused by the extra speed option.
How about you keep that dystopian shit to yourself? Not sure what country you live in, but I prefer the system of personal responsibility we have here in the US. If you do something dumb it's your fault, it's not like the car drove over Grandma by itself.
Re: (Score:2)
While I don't disagree with you, the dick waving performance specs of various car companies makes for cars that can't be fully utilized in the real world. 0-60 in 3 seconds, or a top speed of over 200 mph isn't going to mean squat if 99% of the time you are in gridlock traffic, or driving down a road with a 30 mph speed limit.
There's an old joke that an engineer doesn't see a glass half full or half empty, they see a glass that is the wrong size.
Re: (Score:3)
What about lawsuits from people (or their families) who will be injured or killed by a car that has the extra acceleration option?
I'd like to see all cars requiring a special subscription to be able to drive above the speed limit. And car manufacturers being liable for all injuries caused by the extra speed option.
Lawsuits are just a cost center to car manufacturers. Ford notoriously decided that paying for lawsuits from the Pinto debacle were cheaper than doing a recall to fix the problem.
As for subscriptions to go above speed limits. You shouldn't normally be driving above it in the first place, and there is a whole group of people dedicated to making sure you don't, and fining you if you do. And if you are driving above the speed limit, and cause an accident, it is your fault for doing so, not the manufacturer.
Nothing new (Score:3)
Anybody who has seriously shopped for vehicles in that price range knows that the European brands have a low level of standard equipment and easily cost 30% more once outfitted with desirable options. Whether those options are paid for up front, as configured in the factory, or paid for later makes no difference to the value proposition.
Let me get this straight.. (Score:4, Interesting)
I can pay for the cost of additional hardware that I cannot use unless I continuously keep paying more.
Alternatively I can go to a different company and pay for just what I want and can use at no additional cost.
Goodbye Mercedes!
Re: (Score:2)
I can pay for the cost of additional hardware that I cannot use unless I continuously keep paying more.
Alternatively I can go to a different company and pay for just what I want and can use at no additional cost.
Goodbye Mercedes!
You are paying for enhanced engine management software features. You don't have to pay for them, you can just use the basic ones that are included.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Alternatively I can go to a different company
For now.
Another day, another squeezing the rock (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes we all get it. Companies are trying to soak even more money from their dwindling consumer base. Everyone on Slashdot is going to bemoan this, and in the end, the companies will still do this crap, because when everyone is doing it, who are you going to go buy a car from? And that's how companies know they have you, because there's not going to be some small guy that comes out of nowhere that saves us all and even if there was, they can buy them out with the money they find in the cracks of the CEO's chair.
And we know that they're all going to do this one day, every day more and more of them announce this crap. Some of them it's this kind of stuff like faster acceleration and some of them (especially the kind of cars us mortals can purchase) are the infotainment and GPS functions are locked behind a subscription. And for the time, we're mostly shrugging it off, but ultimately, automakers are going to nickle and dime us to death. They're just slowly turning the water temperature up so as not to offend each demographic, but this is coming for every car. And every maker is going to be doing it. You won't be able to buy a car that isn't doing this crap. There just is no legal protection and absent that, car makers don't give a fuck about the consumer, they aren't legally required to.
Everyone got so high and mighty with "vote with your wallet" and the companies are smarter than that. They know, you don't have a choice. And they know, you can never have a different choice. Because they have so much money, they are the market. It's not a free market, it's their market. So yes, without legal protections from governments, absolutely this kind of shit is going to get worse and more pervasive. Because, what are you going to do? Not buy a car? And that used car market, every year more of the locked down cars enter into that market, so you don't have an escape there. And if you're a person just always fixing up that 2002 beatup, well time will ultimately fix that, a lot of these car companies have been around almost a century, you as a human will be doing good to hit eighty or more.
The only way this kind of crap stops is if governments grant consumers a right to OWN their cars and REPAIR their cars as they see fit. The only way we stop this nonsense is for companies to be legally required to give more than two fucks about their consumers. The whole, "well I just won't buy that crap" ain't going to cut it any more because their isn't going to be some small niche player that enters the market. They'll just eat them up. Unless you all want to go ahead and accept some small Chinese/Indian auto maker that can't be bought up into the US market? But that seems kind of counter to what everyone wants.
Long story short, they are just going to keep doing more of this. And it's not going to stop until some lawmaker tells them to stop. And that is just the world we live in now, like it or leave it.
OK (Score:2)
This is fifty years old (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
In 1972 Atari produced Pong, the first video game console.
This is incorrect. They were the first commercially successful home video game console, but the Magnavox Odyssey [wikipedia.org] was first.
Re:This is fifty years old (Score:4)
The difference here is once you bought the extra games, they were yours. You didn't have to write a check to Atari every month to keep the "bonus games" available. I have absolutely zero issue with Mercedes charging extra for extra features, whether those things are physically present and intentionally hobbled or not. What I have an issue with is the "subscription" part. There is absolutely no reason for this, other than to bilk money from consumers.
The only "grey area" I see in this is where things require maintenance or regular updates, thinking of stuff like self-driving capabilities, or GPS maps. There is a cost involved to keep this stuff up-to-date, it make sense that if you want these updates you should pay for them. But the ability to unlock my car via remote, or utilize the performance level of the engine I purchased? I paid for that shit up-front, and it costs the company NOTHING for me to continue to use those features.
First they came for the Teslas... (Score:5, Interesting)
... and I did not speak, because I do not own a Tesla.
Then they came for the BMWs, and I did not speak, because I do not own a BMW.
Then they came for the Mercedess, and I did not speak, for I do not own a Mercedes.
Now, they came for my Kia, and there is no one left to speak.
1980s Hotrod magazine is calling (Score:5, Interesting)
They want their mod chips back.
The ol' Hotrod magazine (is it still printed?) was always full of ads for "performance chips". In that case, it was to get around emissions controls. Nevermind voiding warranties, it was outright illegal to use on public roads, but was probably OK to sell with a "track only" disclaimer or something; because of course you're going to pull that chip after the race. Wink, wink.
So there we go, Hotrod chippers, if you haven't already done this. Mercedes has set the price and you can take it down a bit further to entice people who don't mind voiding their warranty. It's probably not even illegal and may or may not ruin your emissions, assuming this is for ICE cars.
Re: (Score:2)
It's probably not even illegal
If I asked a lawyer and his response included those words I'd be looking for a new lawyer.
Not being a lawyer, my take on your analysis is that Mercedes doesn't give a shit if you void your warranty. I'd imagine they'd throw their lawyers at anyone selling a product that takes money out of their pockets, however.
The only way this remotely makes sense is.... (Score:2)
Although even after that, the costs are still about three times higher than they should be.
Re: (Score:2)
I am sure that (Score:2)
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell can afford it, but what about their other customers
Another reason stick shifts are better (Score:2)
Someone tell me the last time a person purchasing a stick shift was told they have to pay an ongoing yearly "fee" to get all five gears working. I'll wait.
With the oncoming demise of stick shifts, expect to be nickel and dimed and gouged by car manufacturers.
This is not as crazy as it sounds (Score:3)
You are buying a hardware device that comes with a software package that provides basic features.
You can optionally license enhanced features. Why is this a unusual?
I have cars that came with a SiriusXM radio. But you can't receive SiriusXM without a monthly fee. Is anyone upset by this because the radio is capable?
I have motorcycles where I have paid for new engine control software and tuning that increases performance. Same hardware, upgraded software that I paid for. It isn't on a monthly license (technically would be very difficult) but even if it was some people would be willing to pay for the enhanced performance. Note such changes do void the warranty because they can damage the engine.
My PC came with basic versions of several software packages. If I want the "pro" version I have to pay for it. Same hardware, different software.
So why is it crazy for Mercedes to do it?
Re: (Score:2)
There is a difference. SiriusXM paid for the radio capability, not you.
Ownership rights need to be clarified by law (Score:5, Insightful)
If you own a physical object than you have the right to use it as you desire, including replacing the operating system (OS). Just as I can throw out the old handle of my shovel and replace it with a new one, I should be able to throw out the old OS (perhaps even with the chip it is hard coded on) and replace it. They can license you an OS, but the definition of ownership means you can choose to remove the OS and replace it with an open source.
The problem with these kinds of licensing schemes is that they a) require you to use their OS, b) so now the company will attempt to redefine 'ownership' to prevent people from doing this.
Congress needs to clarify that ownership means you can't do this kind of stuff.
Note, there is nothing wrong with a company doing this to a car they rent to you. Renting means you do not own the car and cannot modify it.
You can't beat my time ... (Score:2)
mmmyeah. (Score:2)
You know, I think I'll stick to buying 20 year old cars that I can still repair and tweak myself.