15 quid a month to have the 'luxury' of heated seats!

Please tell me that this is not the way the motoring industry is going? 🙏

I did some work for a large German car manufacturer a few years back and this was on the cards then..

Makes sense (from their point of view) really - build every car to the same spec then charge a subscription for every extra. Air con, heated seats, DAB, bluetooth, Android Auto/Apple CarPlay, even performance/engine modes.. all enabled or disabled over the air.

All trying to cash in on the success of mobile apps and streaming subscriptions, but with your (their, if we're being completely honest) vehicle.

I'll be sticking with my current car for a long, long time.

3 minutes ago, fa13sta said:

Makes sense (from their point of view) really - build every car to the same spec then charge a subscription for every extra. Air con, heated seats, DAB, bluetooth, Android Auto/Apple CarPlay, even performance/engine modes.. all enabled or disabled over the air.

 

Some enterprising teenager will write an app overriding the legitimate 'subscription' just for the hell of it LOL

Nice bit of Clickbait...

VW also do this now.  If someone orders a poverty Mk8 Golf and trades it in 6 months later, the next owner can chose to add some features...  I'm sure there are sone poverty spec Ford owners on here that would gladly pay to add cruise or climate etc...

It doesn't have to be paid monthly, can be paid as a one off.  I think they're just pushing the monthly idea as most cars are financed with monthly payments nowadays.

https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/en/connected-services/we-connect/features/all-services.html

As I posted in the Have a Laugh section.

 

FYI: BMW puts heated seats, other features behind paywall

Turn signals have been optional add-ons for decades, mind you.

7 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

VW also do this now. ..

 

I wonder how this will work on insurance? You have a poverty car, but for summer months you activate the A/C option, then delete it, than add the cruise control, then add the heated seats for winter, then activate the tracker when going on holiday, then take it away next month because you don't want it. Those insurance guys are going to be busy LOL

33 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

I wonder how this will work on insurance? You have a poverty car, but for summer months you activate the A/C option, then delete it, than add the cruise control, then add the heated seats for winter, then activate the tracker when going on holiday, then take it away next month because you don't want it. Those insurance guys are going to be busy LOL

Not really, there would be one spec of each model, they would have all the features fitted, you paying to use them shouldn’t affect what the insurance charge or value the car at. 

3 minutes ago, MarksST said:

Not really, there would be one spec of each model,...

mmm... so, you pay to get a 'luxury car' then, insure it as such, and just have all the good stuff turned off, that'll not go down well with customers...

It’s not going to be much different to buying a car and adding options. if you want to buy the basic spec you do that, someone else might want the full spec so the pay for all the subscriptions/add on etc.

In theory if every car is built to the same spec other than colour it will reduce manufacturing costs, wether they pass that down is another thing. might also get rid of the dealer network for new car sales, you could just order a car in the colour you want and it gets delivered to you.

This is how Tesla operate.
 

 

 

1 hour ago, eddie eastwood said:

As I posted in the Have a Laugh section.

 

FYI: BMW puts heated seats, other features behind paywall

Turn signals have been optional add-ons for decades, mind you.

Should have gone to Specsavers! 🥸

If it increases customer choice and enables me as a second hand owner to add extras that the original owner didn't want to pay for, that sounds good to me.

I'm currently thinking about buying a second hand car and am getting fed up going through the specs of all the cars to see if they've got the features that I want. Unfortunately one of the things I'd like is a sunroof, but I don't think that could be enabled via an app!

4 minutes ago, alanfp said:

If it increases customer choice and enables me as a second hand owner to add extras that the original owner didn't want to pay for, that sounds good to me.

I'm currently thinking about buying a second hand car and am getting fed up going through the specs of all the cars to see if they've got the features that I want. Unfortunately one of the things I'd like is a sunroof, but I don't think that could be enabled via an app!

Should make the Parker's Guide a bit smaller as well! 😃

 

Also, even with my lack of expertise, if my seats have the heater elements and wiring attached, I reckon I could get them working with a couple of Skotchlocks and a £5 toggle switch.

And remember that if you buy the car new and want heated seats, you just pay a one-off fee for the extra as has always been the case (if I've read the BBC article correctly).

But yes, I'm amazed!

2 hours ago, StephenFord said:

I wonder how this will work on insurance? You have a poverty car, but for summer months you activate the A/C option, then delete it, than add the cruise control, then add the heated seats for winter, then activate the tracker when going on holiday, then take it away next month because you don't want it. Those insurance guys are going to be busy LOL

Probably end up being linked into this..

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/105413/all-new-cars-to-have-black-box-data-loggers-under-eu-laws

1 minute ago, fa13sta said:

Probably end up being linked into this..

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/105413/all-new-cars-to-have-black-box-data-loggers-under-eu-laws

Well thank goodness I voted to leave the EU, bunch of darn controlling morons...

Cars have had the equivalent of Black Box Data Recorders for years but it was not publicised, I think it is only now that they have to tell you about it. This is an extract from my manual, so if you were doing doughnuts immediately before killing someone you can be found out.

Event Data

This vehicle is equipped with an event data recorder. The main purpose of an event data recorder is to record, in certain crash or near crash-like situations, such as an airbag deployment or hitting a road obstacle; this data will assist in understanding how a vehicle’s systems performed. The event data recorder is designed to record data related to vehicle dynamics and safety systems for a short period of time, typically 30 seconds or less.

The event data recorder in this vehicle is designed to record such data as:

• How various systems in your vehicle were operating;
• Whether or not the driver and passenger seatbelts were buckled/fastened;
• How far (if at all) the driver was depressing the accelerator and/or the brake pedal; and
• How fast the vehicle was traveling; and
• Where the driver was positioning the steering wheel.

This data can help provide a better understanding of the circumstances in which crashes and injuries occur.

Note:   Event data recorder data is recorded by your vehicle only if a non-trivial crash situation occurs; no data is recorded by the event data recorder under normal driving conditions and no personal data or information (e.g., name, gender, age, and crash location) is recorded. However, parties, such as law enforcement, could combine the event data recorder data with the type of personally identifying data routinely acquired during a crash investigation.

 

If you have the "my/your journeys" enabled on Ford Pass app do they already know how you are driving ?

Ours has been disabled after about a month when we first got the car as it flagged up red on an hairpin bend that I drove round at 15mph lol.

My car also has a black box fitted, it's in the boot, and is very handy for keeping all sorts of bits in it...

1 hour ago, Wino said:

If you have the "my/your journeys" enabled on Ford Pass app do they already know how you are driving ?

Ours has been disabled after about a month when we first got the car as it flagged up red on an hairpin bend that I drove round at 15mph lol.

I'm sure the car does but I don't know if it still sends the data to Ford or keeps that data in the car. The Crash Data is something that you can't disable as far as I know because it is stored on the car.

I've never had my journeys enabled but I do keep my connectivity settings on. I'm not sure how much that data is saved by Ford.

If you're driving with your phone in your pocket, you're already being logged anyway...that's how traffic apps work, by monitoring everyone's phone movement speed & direction.  

I'm sure they'll tell you that only the minimum of data is used, and that nothing is stored long term...but can you trust anyone nowadays?

1 minute ago, TomsFocus said:

If you're driving with your phone in your pocket, you're already being logged

When you click the 'agree T&C' with FaceBook, you give them permission to track your movements. Theoretically, this is because they can target marketing at you, hence you get the 'offer' when you walk past a KFC, or fashion store etc. I find the whole 'social media' thing very sinister...

5 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

When you click the 'agree T&C' with FaceBook, you give them permission to track your movements. Theoretically, this is because they can target marketing at you, hence you get the 'offer' when you walk past a KFC, or fashion store etc. I find the whole 'social media' thing very sinister...

On the plus side, I rarely have to search for anything to buy nowadays, Facebook and Instagram seem to know exactly what I want...  

2 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

On the plus side, I rarely have to search for anything to buy nowadays, Facebook and Instagram seem to know exactly what I want...  

mmm... I have a couple of 'special' web sites that do the same 😂

I read recently that Google were trialling a system for certain Pixel phones in some countries that will work like the automatic E Call system and if it detects you are in a crash an operator will speak with you over the speaker and if they do not get a reply they will alert the emergency services.

1 minute ago, Tizer said:

... and if they do not get a reply they will alert the emergency services.

Well, that's bound to help, 'ambulance' call out times, who can't cope with the standard calling of them!!