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Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their key fob for remote start

arstechnica.com

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Re: Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their key fob for remote start

#571

Post by oofoe »

grangerg wrote: post #440
BitwiseFool wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"The solution is to vote with your wallet." I don't think it is. I sense this might play out the same way it did with all the intrusive spyware on SmartTV's. Sure, I could try to vote with my wallet and find a TV that doesn't have all that bloat, but they are becoming vanishingly rare. The market has 'decided' that this is a standard feature now.

Get a RokuTV. There's ONE ad on part of the home screen, and it's not animated. The OS doesn't feel bloated or slow at all. It ain't perfect, of course, but I'd never get a Vizio, Samsung, or LG anymore.

“I am altering the deal. Pray I don’t alter it further”

A single ad now on a network connected device is no guarantee that it will remain that way. Especially as it becomes "optimized" for revenue from all possible sources.

It is unfortunate that the rest of this stuff is so infested that a single ad (for now) seems reasonable.

Re: Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their key fob for remote start

#572

Post by sjwalter »

bckygldstn wrote: post #134
daxuak wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I digress but what happend to the milk market? Could you post a reference?

I can't find a good reference for the German market specifically, but in some countries/regions most milk is ultra-pasteurised and unrefridgerated: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-temperature_process...

Wild.

Here I am thankful that Montana recently reduced regulations and made it so small dairies can supply raw milk directly to customers without any inspection from a state or federal agency, so now my family drinks local, fresh, raw milk for the same price as organic UHT crap.

Germans can't get anything but this UHT stuff?

Re: Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their key fob for remote start

#573

Post by elil17 »

alistairSH wrote: post #294
csours wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disclosure: I work for GM, anything here is solely my own opinion. Different revenue to a different organization inside the OEM. When you sell a $20k car, you get maybe $1k in profit, maybe less. If you can get $8 monthly recurring revenue you get maybe $7 in profit. Also consider that the lifetime is not 5 years. The AVERAGE age of cars on the road now is over 12 years. My parents drive 20 year old cars. Also consid…

Also consider that the lifetime is not 5 years. The AVERAGE age of cars on the road now is over 12 years. Do 2nd owners typically subscribe to optional services?

No, but my guess is Toyota is hoping that they will for this because it’s more of a core feature

Re: Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their key fob for remote start

#574

Post by elil17 »

egberts1 wrote: post #3

One less car to shop for. scribbling out Toyota (heading out to the delearships, non-Toyota, that is.)

Unfortunately they are the only ones with anything decent when it comes to reliability. Even Honda doesn’t come close to Prius reliability anymore.

Re: Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their key fob for remote start

#575

Post by matheusmoreira »

lkozma wrote: post #8

was posted here sometime ago: The door refused to open. It said, "Five cents, please." He searched his pockets. No more coins; nothing. "I'll pay you tomorrow," he told the door. Again he tried the knob. Again it remained locked tight. "What I pay you," he informed it, "is in the nature of a gratuity; I don't have to pay you." "I think otherwise," the door said. "Look in the purchase contract you signed when you boug…

This sort of stuff used to be the nightmarish imaginations of cyberpunk authors. Now it's reality. Extremely disturbing. It's getting to the point I'm starting to think technology is detrimental to human dignity.

Re: Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their key fob for remote start

#576

Post by mywittyname »

kQq9oHeAz6wLLS wrote: post #519
djmips wrote: post #496

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windshield even more so.

I believe your windshield is an integral part of your car's rollover protection

The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards have a lot to say on the strength, composition, and properties of glass in passenger vehicles. In addition to being very difficult to break, it must also be resistant to shattering and remain in place while experiencing some pretty extreme forces.

Automotive glass is not even glass really, it's more of a composite made up of layers of various transparent materials all designed to counter balance the weaknesses of the other layers. And windshields are bonded into the body of the vehicle with a very strong plastic adhesive.

Re: Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their key fob for remote start

#577

Post by CamperBob2 »

simondotau wrote: post #561
gentleman11 wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife and I need a new car sometime soon. Is there a company that makes cars that are reasonably reliable but that are without anti features like tracking, electronic everything, bs parts replacement costs due to ip, features you are locked out of via software, subscriptions, software preventing you from working on the car without a special license, ads, etc? Look at the ways software is making the world a better p…

I'm not suggesting that they're perfect in any regard, but Hyundai/Kia do tend to implement electronics and software well enough that they're not going to infuriate you for the next five to ten years. Except even they're falling prey to over-electronicification — their absolute latest models are following an industry trend of replacing some physical buttons with touch-haptic panels. Yeesh. Mazda are still fairly sane…

Did BMW follow through with their plan to make you 'subscribe' to your heated seats?

Re: Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their key fob for remote start

#578

Post by can16358p »

betwixthewires wrote: post #468
seanp2k2 wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree; it's like all the rollaway accidents that happen now because of electronic shifters: https://www.safetyresearch.net/the-persistence-of-rollaway/ Design matters, and bad designs can literally be deadly. Why auto mfgs feel the need to "innovate" with shifter designs is beyond me. The worst part is how every mfg seems to be implementing a different design of bad electronic shifters, from wheels and touchscreens…

It's not just auto manufacturers. It seems literally everything is being designed with a philosophy of "fuck the user" in mind. I cannot think of a single thing more complicated than a concrete block that functions better now than previous versions did 10 years ago, and I'm sure there are some things that work at least as good, but I can't think of any off the top of my head.

I think it's more like as things get more complex, there are many more edge cases to check and most are very unlikely to happen statistically/practically so manufacturers don't put enough thinkin/design effort in those "details".

Until, of course, it does.

Re: Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their key fob for remote start

#579

Post by derekp7 »

aidenn0 wrote: post #444
seanp2k2 wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree; it's like all the rollaway accidents that happen now because of electronic shifters: https://www.safetyresearch.net/the-persistence-of-rollaway/ Design matters, and bad designs can literally be deadly. Why auto mfgs feel the need to "innovate" with shifter designs is beyond me. The worst part is how every mfg seems to be implementing a different design of bad electronic shifters, from wheels and touchscreens…

I drove a rental with a rotary-dial shifter. That is the single most braindead UX thing I've seen in a car that doesn't involve a touch-screen. We've had PRND(L) levers as the standard for shifting in automatics for over 50 years now, and the dial offers no advantages that I can see.

My Ford Fusion has one of those rotary dials. Didn't like it at first, but it is nice having that air space free (not able to accidentally knock it out of gear, more room for an extra cup holder). Also the cars with a physical gear shift lever still work by activating switches, there hasn't been mechanical linkage for years in a lot of models.

Re: Toyota owners have to pay $8/month to keep using their key fob for remote start

#580

Post by dylan604 »

yumraj wrote: post #551
dylan604 wrote: post #541

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only person in the movies I'm aware of that went to jail for breaking the laws for removing tags was Pee-wee Herman. However, I'm truly shocked that someone asked "how come in a movie...".

> However, I'm truly shocked that someone asked "how come in a movie...". I know it sounds stupid to even ask that, but my question/concern came from that for someone who is not aware of such a thing, after watching movies I would have never even thought to look for it had I ever been in such a situation. Referring to also the story above about the women who was stuck in the car. So, if all is true, then the movies i…

>So, if all is true, then the movies in this case are doing a serious disservice.

Yes, modern cars have these pull tags in them. I don't know how new, but the first car that I bought new with a trunk was a 2007 model. It had them. They are even glow in the dark for easier locating in a closed/dark environment.

However, if you are ever in a real life situation trying to decide that the "movies" didn't do it this way is just a really bad way to be. Maybe the illusion/magic of Hollywood still holds for those not working in and around it, but nothing on a screen is real. Every thing presented on screen to you is there for a reason (even if what is on screen is omitting things). I've been in/around/through it for 30 years, so I could be jaded too.

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