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Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

thedrive.com

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Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#501

Post by post-it »

heavyset_go wrote: post #370
HomeDeLaPot wrote: post #358

The problem with this isn't the idea of a car repossessing itself per se, because repossession is already a legitimate thing; it's the idea that your car can be remotely controlled by anyone other than you. There are already so many things that can go wrong. I don't want to buy a car that can be remotely disabled because I drove near a protest, or because there was a "clerical error" at Ford, or because my payment di…

> (Although maybe it would be interesting as an opt-in system with a hardware kill switch that saves you boatloads of money if you don't drive like an a-hole...) This exists and just serves to charge customers more money while blowing smoke up their asses, people want to believe they're better drivers than the rest.

Yeah, it'll go from "you save money if you opt-in" to "you pay much more if you don't opt-in" as soon as possible.

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#502

Post by westpfelia »

nemo44x wrote: post #380
spiritplumber wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw someone's RV getting repossessed over $50 in 2019. They were clearly living in it. I walked over and handed the repo guy $60. He wouldn't take it. This was in a cul de sac. I parked my truck across the way so that it would not be possible to enter or leave the cul de sac. Someone called the cops. The cops showed up after a few minutes, good response time. The lady living in the RV was told that she could not pa…

Why did you feel the need to give the working class guy a hard time for doing his job? He probably makes an hourly wage or a commission on the vehicles he returns to rightful owners and now he’s facing not making any money for the day or possibly being fired. He was operating lawfully and you decided it was your job to enforce your justice. I don’t know, just seems wrong. I think it would have been more noble to take…

Maybe you just dont know this. But a TON of repo operations are 100% not on the level. And not legal.

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#503

Post by snek_case »

alwayslikethis wrote: post #473
ashwagary wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tech literate people often complain about buying portable consumer devices and not "really" owning them. This is a whole nother level of control loss. Not only do you not completely own the hardware but in the worst case scenario, the hardware can remotely be used to restrict freedom of movement or kill you and others. I personally wouldn't recommend buying an electric vehicle unless it's extremely dumb or is capable…

I think a much better bet (though expensive) is to convert a somewhat old car into an electric one with fully custom firmware. I hope someone would be able to commercialize conversion kits for the most popular vehicles in operation today.

There are conversion kits and electric crate motors [0] that are available to enthusiasts.

The problem is that EVs and traditional ICE vehicles are built very differently. In order to fit enough batteries, the batteries are usually built under the vehicle in what's called a "skateboard". You can't do that easily when retrofitting an ICE vehicle, so you end up sacrificing trunk space. Modern EVs are also much more lightweight and aerodynamic than ICE vehicles, and they can do regen braking. Without all of the modern EV innovations, you just don't get nearly the same range.

So yeah. You should probably get a modern EV and just crack the firmware to jailbreak it instead, which is likely to happen in short order. A challenge there though is that when it comes to autonomous vehicles, you're likely going to need updates to the map data on a semi-regular basis. You could also become liable if someone gets hurt and it's found that you tinkered around with your autonomous car's software.

[0] https://www.thedrive.com/news/42974/fords-281-hp-electric-cr...

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#504

Post by tangjurine »

smegger001 wrote: post #480
skipkey wrote: post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My 2013 F150 periodically asks me if it should upload a “Vehicle health report”. I have always declined. The idea of a vehicle repossessing itself does bother me. In the early 2000s I bought a vehicle from Mitsubishi, financed through them. At the time, setting up an automatic payment through them cost a monthly fee, so I set it up through my bank instead. About 3 years later I got a call from them threatening reposs…

Yeah what happens when someone gets out to pump gas with their child and phone in the car and fords automated repo algorithm decides is the optimal time to drive away.

Ford stock goes down 5%, media hushes it up

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#505

Post by akira2501 »

Johnny555 wrote: post #488
jaredhallen wrote: post #443

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting to see so many different perspectives on this one. Seems like I'm in the minority, but my perspective is you are absolutely not towing my car while I am present. I'll get in and drive away while it's hooked to the truck. Or whatever I have to do. You are not towing it. Period.

I'll get in and drive away while it's hooked to the truck Not likely, at least not without seriously damaging your car and/or the tow truck and you’ll have to pay for both. That tow truck hook is designed to pull your car down the road at highway speeds, you’re not going to just drive your car off it. https://youtu.be/Wq3e0XwyDMM

> That tow truck hook is designed to pull your car down the road at highway speeds

It depends. Wheel lifts are designed to have ratchet straps run through anchors on the side and over the tires to keep the vehicle strapped down. Your vehicle has it's own suspension and it can "pop" off the lift easily.

In "high risk" towing or repossession, you might see an agent lift a vehicle then drive off with it; almost certainly, they're going about a mile or so away to where they can safely stop and then strap the vehicle down properly.

Even then:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTKSj-iN6KE

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#506

Post by lelanthran »

Panzer04 wrote: post #426
turdprincess wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious whats your plan if new cars become increasingly internet connected, kinda how smart TVs went? Will you keep driving early 2000s cars until they become "vintage"?

Presumably you could always just break the 5G module - the carmaker can’t assume internet connectivity, so it should work fine without.

Of course they can, the car will check in at least once every few months, so you can go without internet connectivity for 30 days or so without problems.

Almost everyone will get within range of internet at least once every two months, so few Wil notice or care that the car requires constant contact with the mother ship.

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#507

Post by tru3_power »

heavyset_go wrote: post #477
zrobotics wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Always connected, no fee. Although the car (at least my 21) also offers a cellular wifi hotspot that appears to use the ATT network[0]. No clue what the monthly pricing is, I've never signed up for that trial. I have the lowest spec, cheapest car Ford had available and it still has the cellular antenna. I checked, and at leadt on an ecosport the cell antenna is very easy to remove and doesn't impact functionality of…

Thanks for the info. I wonder if anyone's repurposed these radios/SIM/whatever for free 5G/LTE traffic.

How would that work?

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#508

Post by necovek »

kube-system wrote: post #227
necovek wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the bad "inventions" of software distribution: you don't own a copy, you are only licensed to use it. No surprise the dark tactic is spreading.

That is more akin to a lease.

I would find a lease more like software subscriptions.

Regular licenses for software you do "buy" can be retracted but that rarely happens in practice.

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#509

Post by Johnny555 »

akira2501 wrote: post #505
Johnny555 wrote: post #488

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll get in and drive away while it's hooked to the truck Not likely, at least not without seriously damaging your car and/or the tow truck and you’ll have to pay for both. That tow truck hook is designed to pull your car down the road at highway speeds, you’re not going to just drive your car off it. https://youtu.be/Wq3e0XwyDMM

> That tow truck hook is designed to pull your car down the road at highway speeds It depends. Wheel lifts are designed to have ratchet straps run through anchors on the side and over the tires to keep the vehicle strapped down. Your vehicle has it's own suspension and it can "pop" off the lift easily. In "high risk" towing or repossession, you might see an agent lift a vehicle then drive off with it; almost certainl…

Your vehicle has it's own suspension and it can "pop" off the lift easily.

I think that’s what the guy in the 4wd truck in the video I linked to thought, he did‘t get it off with causing some serious body damage to his truck, maybe some suspension damage and probably some damage to the tow truck, he lifted the tow truck off its front wheels several times.

Re: Future Fords could repossess themselves and drive away if you miss payments

#510

Post by js2 »

colinflane wrote: post #485
HomeDeLaPot wrote: post #358

The problem with this isn't the idea of a car repossessing itself per se, because repossession is already a legitimate thing; it's the idea that your car can be remotely controlled by anyone other than you. There are already so many things that can go wrong. I don't want to buy a car that can be remotely disabled because I drove near a protest, or because there was a "clerical error" at Ford, or because my payment di…

"clerical error" reminds me, recently rewatched Gilliam's Brazil (1985). From the Wikipedia article's section on Plot: > One day, shortly before Christmas, an insect becomes jammed in a teleprinter, which misprints a copy of an arrest warrant it was receiving. This leads to the arrest and death during interrogation of cobbler Archibald Buttle instead of renegade heating engineer and suspected terrorist Archibald Tutt…

"Mistake? Haha. We don't make mistakes."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzFmPFLIH5s

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