Mazda's $10 Subscription For Remote Start Sparks Backlash After Killing Open Source Option (carscoops.com)
- Reference: 0175162481
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/24/09/30/202227/mazdas-10-subscription-for-remote-start-sparks-backlash-after-killing-open-source-option
- Source link: https://www.carscoops.com/2024/09/mazdas-remote-start-subscription-draws-ire-of-noted-right-to-repair-advocate/
> Mazda recently surprised customers by requiring them to sign up for a subscription in order to keep certain services. Now, notable right-to-repair advocate Louis Rossmann is calling out the brand. He points to several moves by Mazda as reasons for his anger toward them. However, it turns out that customers might still have a workaround. Previously, the Japanese carmaker offered connected services, that included several features such as remote start, without the need for a subscription. At the time, the company informed customers that these services would eventually transition to a paid model.
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> It's important to clarify that there are two very different types of remote start we're talking about here. The first type is the one many people are familiar with where you use the key fob to start the vehicle. The second method involves using another device like a smartphone to start the car. In the latter, connected services do the heavy lifting. What is wild is that Mazda used to offer the first option on the fob. Now, it only offers the second kind, where one starts the car via phone through its connected services for a $10 monthly subscription, which comes to $120 a year. Rossmann points out that one individual, Brandon Rorthweiler, developed a workaround in 2023 to enable remote start without Mazda's subscription fees.
[1] https://www.carscoops.com/2024/09/mazdas-remote-start-subscription-draws-ire-of-noted-right-to-repair-advocate/
Paying for a non-feature? (Score:2)
How is remote start a feature that anyone would pay money for?
Re:Paying for a non-feature? (Score:4, Informative)
> How is remote start a feature that anyone would pay money for?
If you live somewhere prone to experiencing temperature extremes, it is very nice to enter a car with the climate control already running. Heck, here in Florida I sometimes even leave the AC running on my Chevy Bolt just so I don't return to a steaming hot cup of Coke Zero by the time I return from a quick errand.
I wouldn't pay a subscription for the feature, though.
Re:Paying for a non-feature? (Score:5, Interesting)
To be accurate, all of Mazda's connected services are behind that $10 subscription. That includes remote door unlock, and vehicle health/status reports. Basically, you're paying for the cell connection supporting the functionality. I'm not making a value judgement, only saying there is more to it when someone does make that value judgement.
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Basically, you're paying for the cell connection supporting the functionality.
Which makes the fee perfectly reasonable. Better if there were an option to connect via WiFi and be free (accepting the obvious limitations).
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If you live in very cold or very hot climate and don't have a garage, it can be very nice luxury. I'd pay a reasonable amount to have it in my car. Once.
Having it cellular-based is a nice gimmick, but not $10 a month nice IMO. I'm lucky to own a low mileage 8 or 9yo car that has no cellular connectivity, no on-demand anything, no as-a-service options. It does have USB audio, bluetooth, and pandora controls built in. Quirky at times but TBH my phone is 100x more capable than any in-dash infotainment sys
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I would not pay for it but live in an area that rarely drops below freezing and park in a garage.
If I lived in an area such as Minnesota and had to park outside, it may be one of those worthwhile quality of life upgrades. The car has to warm up a few minutes anyway if it's been frosted over, may as well let it happen while in the warmth of the house than shivering at the steering wheel for a few minutes.
Golden screwdriver back with a vengance (Score:3)
Expect a hyperagressive campaign of getting every feature under a "subscription" or at the very least allowing them to gain control of everything for them to be able to kill or gatekeep at will at anytime. Steering, brakes, and headlights too if they could just get the politicians to fall in line, with the aid of the "for the children" and "stop terrorism" cards.
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i can see them trying, for sure. How successful this will be I have to wonder.
If it becomes truly commonplace then I expect to see jailbreaking firestick type hacks becoming equally common. If you want me to pay to send nonsense telemetry and use already-installed features ... i'll find a way around that including cutting the antenna wire.
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"Customer damage to the vehicle, all warranty void" is a universal solution to this from manufacturer's side. Very few people will be willing to lose warranty on tens of thousands of Euros of investment by doing stuff that may also break something the car permanently on top of it just to get rid of an annoyance.
This will need to be legislated unfortunately, unless competition deals with it. And considering the amount of legislation that already mandates a lot of annoyances like TPMS and speed limit warning
Remote start via app (Score:5, Interesting)
With or without a subscription fee, having to use an app to access your car's features is annoying. When my partner and I test drove a Tesla, we discovered the key fob costs extra and can't be used to remote start the car. You have to use the smartphone app. Gee, I wonder were Mazda got the idea?
The Bolt EUV we ended up getting, that came with two included keyfobs with - you guessed it - remote start.
Subscriptions to... (Score:2)
...provide an ongoing service are fine
Subscriptions to use an already installed feature are fukkin' EVIL!
Any company that tries to feed me this crap will lose my business forever
Illegal in the UK? (Score:1)
Remote start is illegal in the UK: Rule 123 of the Highway Code states that “you MUST NOT leave a parked vehicle unattended with the engine running or leave a vehicle engine running unnecessarily while that vehicle is stationary on a public road.” “Must not” implies a legal requirement. This law is in place is because people have been killed by cars starting to move when the engine is running and they are unattended. This has happened even when the gearbox is in neutral and with t
Suck it (Score:4, Interesting)
I will never "pay" for a "service" to use something that I already own. If the device requires a company server to operate they can suck it. This kind of crap will continue to happen people unless you flat out say "NO" to this bullshit.
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I would expand upon this. Never ever by a brand new car and make sure the dealer knows why. State it is all the Internet crap no one really needs. After just 3 or 4 months of no sales, you can bet they will change their ways.
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This is the biggest problem. They are adding so much stuff that people never asked for. Cars aren't affordable because they just keep on adding on features. Some of it is is mandated for "safety" or for "efficiency" like mandatory backup cameras or tire pressure sensors.
But people can use their mirrors or turn their head. They can check their tire pressure with a $20 gauge. There's no need to complicate cars so much and make them inaccessible to regular people. Unless this is all the end goal to make it so
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> This is the biggest problem. They are adding so much stuff that people never asked for. Cars aren't affordable because they just keep on adding on features. Some of it is is mandated for "safety" or for "efficiency" like mandatory backup cameras or tire pressure sensors.
> But people can use their mirrors or turn their head. They can check their tire pressure with a $20 gauge. There's no need to complicate cars so much and make them inaccessible to regular people. Unless this is all the end goal to make it so nobody can afford a car to reduce overall ownership and cut down on pollution.
Cut down on pollution? You obviously don't study the patterns of modern business. The real dream of the car companies is that they can forever charge you as much as you can afford to pay for the privilege of *NOT* owning the car. And I'm not talking about the current lease model of today, where you get *A* vehicle, pay an agreed price over a certain term, then have the option to purchase. No, the daydream of the auto-execs is they produce cars, most likely self-driving, at a substantially reduced rate compa
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If they all do this then you'd have to swap to a bike.
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One of my cars is a 2013 with none of this stuff. I'll be doing everything I can to make sure I can keep it running indefinitely.
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I agree when it comes to installed hardware that cannot be used without paying more. That hardware costs money to be there so everyone's covering that cost one way or another. All the sub does is shift around what proportion everyone pays. See: BWM/Tesla heated seats.
But if it's just for a service I think it's more justifiable, since servers do cost money to run. Remote start and locks just scrape by into this category because the hardware obviously can be used without the service, just not remotely. Not of
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Living in Western North Carolina, I can certainly tell you how convenient these services are when internet and cell service are completely unavailable. I have to drive 20 miles to get cell service and the person who's house I'm at wouldn't have power were it not for a generator.