I have a 2021 Mazda that pairs with a pretty nice app. I can start the car, check my mileage, view my fuel level, be alerted to open or unlocked doors, etc. Nice, right?
Problem is, I just learned that I had only three years of free app usage, after which it turns into a paid app ($10/month). I don’t wanna pay the fee, so it is now non-functional.
I paid 30k for a car that I now cannot even start remotely.
Do other manufacturers do this?
mmm
Subaru does. I bought a ‘24 OBW, or Outback Wilderness, back in January. To remote start it I need the app. It’s not a seamless interface, and so lately I don’t even bother with remote start. I expect to delete the app from my phone pretty soon.
My car before the OBW was a 2014 diesel Jeep Grand Cherokee. Jeep had remote start built into the key fob, and that was nicely integrated and convenient to use. Much better than the newer-by-10-years Subaru OBW.
My new Toyota’s app is only good for 1 year, then $80/yr after that. Even the remote fob starter is nonfunctional without a connected service.
Looking around, there are plenty of after-market remote starters. Some are fob-only, and some are app-based. Reddit has more info. The fob-only starts around $80-$100, plus installation.
For the phone application to work, the car itself must have some sort of cellular connection. That has a monthly cost. And the call centers must keep staff on retainer, etc. The manufacturers choose to have the consumer pay for those costs (and probably some profit on top). That’s not highly immoral.
But it would be nice if all cars at least supported the functionality we had 15 years ago, with the car responding to the fob/remote in your pocket, with no need for a cell connection. My 2023 Kona EV does support that, including remote start. But anything that requires information to flow from the car to the owner, like fuel (or charge) level, unlocked-door warnings, etc. does require the cell connection.
And, as a minimum, the dealer/company must inform the buyer of all these caveats at the time of purchase. Not often the case, in my experience.
My Jaguar app is free. It can tell me charge level, location, windows and doors. I can turn on climate control remotely, and unlock or lock doors.
I paid $50k for a 2021 Chrysler Pacifica with the same deal, only my free period was only 6 months I believe. I refused to pay for the privilege of using their shitty app, so now it just sits there on my phone, mocking me.
Interesting. I’m obviously out of the loop: this is the first I’ve heard about vehicle apps, let alone having to pay to keep using them, but I guess it isn’t at all surprising. The trend nowadays is away from paying once to own (a copy of) things, and toward subscriptions or regular payments to “stream” or access them.
You are paying for cellular access thru the vehicle, not the app itself. I can remote start my car with the keyfob for a limited distance, but to be able to so from anywhere in the world the car needs to have a cellular connection that I can access thru an app downloaded to the vehicle.
About 15 years ago, when the battery in the fob for my '97 Volvo went dead, I vaguely remember looking up the process for replacing the battery and resetting the interface and concluding that it sounded like a pain in the ass.
I still have and drive that car quite happily with no fob functionality. I understand the convenience of locking and unlocking all the doors at once, but I long ago stopped locking my doors.
I find the simple life to be quite satisfactory.
Supposedly I won’t be able to start my Toyota with the fob no matter how close I get. My subscription runs out in 9 days, so I’ll find out for sure then.
MoboKey is one remote phone app that was recommended in a Reddit thread. It appears to not have a monthly cost, just the product and installation.
Remote fobs mentioned in a Reddit thread were by Viper and CompuStar.
My previous car had an aftermarket fob installed and I loved it. Don’t know the brand. Car Toys sold and installed it.
Most of these apps are selling your driving data to your insurance company, FYI.
Not legal in California, FYI.
Teslas don’t have keyfobs. It’s all a phone app. (You get a credit card looking thing as a valet key). That’s how you unlock the car (by proximity). You can turn on or off the heat, A/C and set heaters. See the charge level, open the trunks, see the location, make a service appointment and a few other things.
The Model X has a fob. It’s a tiny Model X.
I guess the most frustrating part of this is that the vehicle I traded in, which was 14 years older than my current Mazda, did have remote start capability (from the fob).
mmm
Same for my BMW i3. It also has location info but I haven’t activated the GPS yet.
The only app I use is Android Auto which uses Bluetooth, I think. Or a USB cable which is how I use it. It puts Google Maps on the center console for easier viewing. I don’t use it very often but it is nice when I need it.
My car is an EV, so I have no real need for remote start. The manufacturer is trying to interest me in the Connect service, but it offers nothing I really want. I can plug in and turn on the climate control so that range is less affected by heating the car, but I might as well do that manually. The maps feature on the console will probably eventually stop working, but that will mostly be ok with me. I am not even interested in signing up for Sirius XM.
Thing is, the IoT is evil and I want no part of it. My car needs to be itself, not a tool for hackerz to co-opt for massive DDoS attacks when someone pisses them off.
Those apps, Android Auto & Apple Carplay, aren’t the topic of the thread.
Those are essentially ways to remote some of your mobile phone’s functionality onto the cars screens & sound system as you say.
This is different…
Most manufacturers have a special brand-specific app that in effect makes your phone a remote control for your car. A remote control with worldwide range, not just 15-30 feet like your fob. Big difference; in fact nearly the opposite idea.
As to the thread topic …
The BMW app is not useful for my use cases. I remember where I parked, I know how much gas I have, and our climate is such that remote start is never necessary. And there’s no reliable cell signal where I park at home so remote start won’t work anyhow. I have no use for gee-whiz statistics about fuel consumption.
For me it’s pure features in search of a problem to solve. … with one exception.
The car’s fob automatically locks the car as I walk away and unlocks it as I walk up. Tres handy.
Unless I forget to bring the fob, or want to leave it behind for some reason. The phone (if the app is installed & configured) acts as an NFC key & by waving it at the door handle the car locks or unlocks. Darn nice.
Many cars since about 2017 have pushbutton start. You don’t insert the key into an ignition lock, you enter the car with your key fob in your pocket/purse, press the brake pedal and press the Start button. The presence of the fob on board, with a working battery to respond via radio, is a condition for the Start button to work.
Of course this means you can’t live long with a dead fob battery. Since that battery can die at random, the key fob typically contains a physical key to unlock the driver’s door, and there’s a special location in the car where you can put your “dead” fob and still get permission to start the car.