online upgrades: Is it broken, a disabled feature, or customer gouging

Many years ago, I was a senior field engineer for a mini-computer manufacturer and provided support services for some of the older systems when required.

I always checked jumper settings as a part of any diagnostic process - as customers sometimes would hear that cutting 'this link or that one' would speed throughput without realising that on some boards you also needed to change some components - the boards having different SKU numbers. Of course, if they screwed things up they would never admit it, just reporting a 'fault'. If I did find a modified board (wrong settings for the SKU No) the Branch Manager had to be informed - which usually resulted in a back service charge and sometimes a ticking offf for the site engineer.

Back to cars. My new (and very lovely) Italian car comes with a number of 'soft' features that will cease in 3-5 years time (unless I renew their subscriptions). Most of these features I can happily live without, although I do find it amusing to check that my car is still on the drive using my phone (saves me getting up and looking out the window but doesn't give me as much pleasure).

Of course, there are potential upsides to the 'soft' car. In Italy, car taxes prohibit most Italians buying the more powerful models of my car but enterprising enthusiasts there have discovered that a Stage 1 tune (just an ECU remap - no 'hard' upgrades required) can add another 80-100bhp - because the engine and supercharger are essentially the same (and until 3 years ago were exactly the same). In fact, you can purchase a switch from the top-of-the range 510BHP beast and fit it into the lowest powered version and then have a 'Race' mode to select - the softwear just reads the new switch.

I'm not sure I will ever re-map my car (it's more than quick enough for my needs) but others might choose to save £5-6K off list and then spend about £400 for a remap once the car is out of warrenty. So 'soft' features can have their upsides too.

Regards,

IanT

I cannot believe this - features "running out" on a car such as your new Italian car you have already bought and paid for?

It's the same with CAD packages. Does Paul McCartney have to pay Höfner or Fender or Rickenbacker every time he writes and releases a new song, or pay an annual licence? No he buys the instrument once and that's it. Yet a CAD owner has to pay a licence (if they want security and all the features or to use the CAD for designing items to be sold).

Bundling features that won't work until extra is paid is one thing, but how can it be legal to charge customers repeatedly for using what they have already paid for?

I remember at school when electronic calculators started appearing; some cheaper models in certain product ranges did not have the advanced functions, but actually it was only that the keys were not labelled with them. If you knew which combination of keys to press, the advanced functions worked !

I'm currently rather annoyed with Renault/Dacia. The dashboard has a spanner shaped service light position. Unfortunately, they decided to use the general engine fault warning light to indicate that a service is desired (as well as indicating that one might actually have an engine fault). This means that one needs to use an OBD2 reader to make sure that the car isn't complaining about being broken when it just thinks you need to pay for a service. To add insult to injury, the light can only be reset with Renault's proprietary software, which independant garages cannot get access to.

I have a feeling that this actually contravenes the 'right to repair' laws...

Many different ways of paying for things and musical instruments are no exception. Paul McCartney might buy his musical instruments outright but plenty of others hire them. Also possible when new instruments are invented that they can only be licenced. Not unlikely if software is involved.

Cars, vans, lorries, computers. houses and pretty much everything else can be leased: you hand over money but don't own anything.

Software is in the same class as printed material and entertainment. Buying a book doesn't transfer the Intellectual Property Rights. Paying the BBC licence fee or a Netflix subscription doesn't mean you own whatever is downloaded. Neither does watching content paid for by advertising. Software remains the property of it's creator, unless issued with a 'copy-left' licence. Microsoft is very different from Linux.

Rentals, mortgages, annuities, bonds, and shares etc also blur ownership. You don't own anything bought on a credit card until the loan is paid off. For a long time the majority shareholder in my house was a bank.

Stolen goods never belong to the purchaser - even if bought in good faith. The list of exceptions to outright ownership is endless, even before examples like cars are taken off the road by the MOT or congestion charges, and homes being compulsory purchased or requisitioned by the military.

The car situation is an interesting development; people are apparently buying cars without realising part of the deal is only a temporary licence to use. It would put me off buying the car! Best not to assume anything, as there's no reason why a contract should be simple: READ THE SMALL PRINT!

Dave

No, in fairness SoD - I have everything I expected (& specified) when I purchased the car - including things like adaptive cruise (e.g. all things which seem to cost more on Beemers these days)

I wasn't expecting the 'connected' facilities (vehicle tracking, theft alerts, roadside assistance, other driver & valet tracking, traffic alert etc) - and hopefully will not miss them too much when they finally expire. I view them more as a bonus whilst they are avaialble. It is a form of 'trial' upsell but everything that was on the original spec when I ordered the car (plus a few that were not) is there and will remain there. Frankly, I am delighted with my new purchase, I think it may well be the best handling car I've ever driven and owned. It's probably also the last car I will ever purchase too, certainly the last new ICE one...

As an aside (and another rabbit hole to dive down) - my son has just aquired a new BMW "plug-in" that he cannot actually plug-in where he currently lives (don't ask). Idle curiousity made me check the specs between our two (similar sized) cars. His hybrid is 415kg (over 900lbs) heavier than mine. I kind of doubt regenerative braking is making too much difference in terms of mpg, when dragging the equivelent of an extra five adults around all the time?

Regards,

IanT

My nearly new British car has the features that IanT describes - I expect all new cars are of this kind. Many soft features are enabled for 1-3 years, but require a subscription after the 'free' period expires. It is by some distance the best driving car I have owned, and a tribute to modern tech. A lot of these soft features have functionality from my mobile phone, and remotely. The car will work satisfactorily without these features, and I anticipate not subscribing - but if they prove useful who knows? I certainly don't want to revert to a Morris Minor.

What?? But ... but the Morris Minor is the Rolls Royce of cars. On par with the Myford lathe!

Hang onto your morris minor

and stick a battery and a scrapped tesla motor into it

With the prices they charge for new electric vehicles it will be a lot cheaper, it's upcycling and it looks waay better

Actually, my financial adviser has the new car - I have a Reliant Scimitar!

Rubbish!

Hopefully on behalf of all Myford owners.

JA

All this is nothing new. Back in my machine tool days, servo drivers were supplied with features turned off. This makes sense when an axis doesn’t require a feature and never will, but some features where required and you had to pay for an engineer to come out just to move a jumper, which he did behind your back. Eventually we were working close with the manufacturers and got all the codes during development of their kit.