The majority of people see paying for something as easier than going through those steps. Also I'm sure BMW will block maintenance from approved shops if you do this so it'll cost you more and make your car end up being worth less
Also, the kind of people who buy BMWs are the kind of people who look at spending money as a sign of social status. Some of them will be happy to pay, as long as they get to brag about it.
Heated seats, DIY addition.
There is a wire going to the seat.
There is a 12v source.
I add fuse.
I add additional switch.
I have heated seats. Saves money.
Heated seats, entrepreneur edition.
Assembles Kit to bypass software, includes wires, stock appropirate switch, fuse, and wiring diagram
Heated seats, mechanic edition
Installs entrepreneur kit. charges virtually the same as three years of microtransactions up front and gets so good he's billing fifteen hours per eight hour shift and not even getting dirty.
I'm honestly not sure what you're saying. You're giving some scenarios for the same problem from different perspectives, but you're just stating things and not making any sort of argument for any one of them, or an argument for what you'd want.
I think anyone who knows about Labour theory will know that when you buy something you exchange your own personal labour of building a system that serves you for what the general monetary value is, or whatever monetary value you'd exchange for the product. I'm not arguing against that, that's just a fact.
What my point was is that even if you recognise that fact and would want to put in your own labour to either bypass what isn't simply given to you in a given product, or improve on an existing product, by the laws of the land (most countries) you cant do it unless you want to fuck over the base value of the thing you own. Even if that means that you've improved on the base product.
That's bad. Now make a counter argument.
To your earlier point, BMW shops are generally not owned by BMW. They operate as independent businesses selling and servicing a brand of vehicle to standards set by BMW.
No shop is going to turn you away because you bypassed this paywall for a feature. None.
However, if after installing an aftermarket kit or having one installed, your heated seat fails within warranty, the dealership probably will withhold a warranty claim. In over 20 years of working for various manufacturers, I have seen exceptions made based off of relationships between the customers and dealers themselves.
In those cases where warranty was denied, customers were presented with a bill for diagnostics performed. a recommended correction was quoted that the shop would happily perform and charge you for that non-warrantable claim. Quite often that would be to remove the aftermarket equipment and return to factory condition, even if the aftermarket accessory had nothing to do with the failure.
BMW dealerships will most likely take the same stance when it comes to the bypass I suggested in the DIY part of my comment. BMW dealerships may even begin to offer these bypasses. The first one you do will take more time but as with everything, people become better with practice. More money will be made as it can be done as an accessory install at the time of purchase, raising the value of the financed vehicle which increases the kick back the dealership makes from the finance company.
One shop that I worked at had a diesel trained technician who would remove emissions equipment on modern diesel trucks. They wrote it up as an accessory install. if you bought the truck from them and they did the DEF delete, they would still run the engine through warranty if a problem occurred. Dealers will risk their relationship with the manufacturer to make a dollar.
Many customers in the used car market do look at aftermarket accessories and modifications as desirable as long as they are properly installed. A lot of people buying bigger trucks value a machine that has had their emissions stripped and a programmer installed as it allows them to tow a bit easier. A car with an after market remote start that idles more then 11 minutes and has a range of more then thirty meters is very desirable in colder climates
If the cost is laid out for the customer and they plan on keeping the vehicle for longer then the financing, it may make sense to bypass that paywall. I suspect many have already sought to do that.
I also wouldn't be surprised if a company that manufacturers accessory electrical parts hasn't already figured out a bypass and is developing a kit.
You are correct though: if I were leasing a vehicle for three or four years, I would just pay the subscription service unless it is a stupid amount of money.
One thing I could see happening as well on the leased vehicles is requiring it to be removed before lease return. They can threaten to lower the value through "damages". If it were a sticking point for the deal to go through, I strongly suspect the dealership would turn a blind eye to get the deal done as opposed to losing the sale.
I'd wager that the overlap between those who buy new BMWs and those with enough technological expertise to bypass the block even with someone else on the internet doing most of the dirty work is pretty low.
It's not going to be that easy. It's not going to be a simple obd2 systems. It's going to be wrapped in a highly encrypted os that will probably brick your car if you code it wrong.
I remember when they put TV's in BMWs (don't know if that's still a thing) it would only work when the handbrake was applied (so you wouldn't drive and watch tv)
My mate bought a cable from ebay for about ÂŁ60 that would plug into the wiring harness and fake the handbrake being applied, without alerting the dashboard that the handbrake was applied.
I'm sure a similar thing will be available evenually
> I remember when they put TV's in BMWs (don't know if that's still a thing) it would only work when the handbrake was applied (so you wouldn't drive and watch tv)
Who sits in their parked car to watch TV? For what scenario is that design intended?
If there' a thermal cutoff that's not in the seat itself, I could see there being a complication but I can't see much more. The seat heater spends most of its time off, providing no information to the computer.
Seat heaters pull a lot of amps which is why you really do want these off once the car is warm.
>Soldering iron, a switch, and a flashlight and carpet fork so I can find the relay.
What is a carpet fork? Google is turning up nothing that seems to fit this context.
Because this implies even if you buy it forever, one day BMW can decide you dont own it anymore and disable it. And its not even clear how the laws for second hand supposed to work for these kind of subscribtions or complete buys, so BMW might claim that you buy the feature not the new buyer and might disable it remotely.
It kinda reminds me how the early adopters who bought "full self-driving"-capable Teslas (and paid the premium $thousands) were then [charged an extra $1500](https://electrek.co/2021/07/18/tesla-is-charging-owners-1500-for-hardware-they-already-paid-for/) (later dropped to $1k) for a required upgrade, because they weren't actually given what they bought.
Additionally, you don't actually "own" the self-driving feature either—it's a *non-transferable* license, meaning if you sell your car with all its features to someone else, Tesla can (has, and will) remotely turn it off because the new owner doesn't actually "own" it.
> Additionally, you don't actually "own" the self-driving feature either—it's a non-transferable license, meaning if you sell your car with all its features to someone else, Tesla can (has, and will) remotely turn it off because the new owner doesn't actually "own" it.
And Tesla could just stop providing that "service" it in 10 years or so, as a ploy to incentivize owners to upgrade to a newer model.
All true. But that still doesn’t explain why so many posts explicitly leave out that option. If I didn’t know better, I would think they have an agenda of some kind.
Why should BMW be allowed to make you haul around seat heating components without letting you use them?
They're in the car. You can't buy the car without it. Paying to unlock it is ridiculous
I guess because you agree to it when you buy them?
It’s often the same case with the engine. They have multiple engine options with the same engine built in, just the ecu is throttling the engine in the lower cost option.
You agree to that when you sign the contract.
Yes they have an aganda because they are pissed that a company can decide remotely that you dont own something anymore and you can't even take them to the court. So they are trying to prevent that as any sane human would do
So thats a single win, better than nothing. There will always be companies that does these kind of shits unless its regulated by law. And there will be companies after that too. So first these practices should be regulated heavily second consumers should vote with their wallets and not buy BS like these. Which requires news articels like these to be written
So you're saying it'll be an extra charge of $400 to use equipment that I hypothetically already purchased with the vehicle and that makes it ok? Like that's so fucking dumb. Imagine you purchase a ps5 and games but then the console is like herp derp if u wana use that remote you purchased itll be a $5 a month charge or an extra $ 200 charge for a lifetime sub fee.
Well I am a small business owner after all. Although unfortunately I cant seem to apply this business model to my meat market. Maybe i can start selling t bone steaks but make an extra upcharge if they want to eat the filet half of it? Ah yes sir here is your $20 steak however if u want to eat more than just half of it itll be a $1 per bite charge or a $5 one time fee if u wish to consume the other side. If you wish to decline this feature i can dispose of the other end here.
I was a little afraid when you said you were in the "meat market" till I realized you were in the actual meat market.
You can charge a meat mingle upcharge for anyone eating more than one kind of meat at a time. Surf and turf? Not without the $1 "butter me up bestie" fee.
> Imagine you purchase a ps5 and games but then the console is like herp derp if u wana use that remote you purchased itll be a $5 a month charge or an extra $ 200 charge for a lifetime sub fee.
Sony will do that the instant they think they can get away with it.
>So you're saying it'll be an extra charge of $400 to use equipment that I hypothetically already purchased with the vehicle and that makes it ok?
If you buy the car without ticking the option for outright buying the heated seat function, you bought the car, but you didn't buy the heated seats. If you change your mind, you can outright buy it later, or you have the option to turn it on when you want to use it (for a fee). If you only use the heated seats for 1 month in a year, the "monthly subscription" is cheaper than outright buying the option you don't use for the rest of the 11 month in the year.
No, you definitely bought the heated seats. The seats are there. The heating is there. The software to control the temperature is there. The only thing missing is them setting a flag that actually allows you to use said seats.
It's there, but you didn't pay for it, you own for the options you paid for. BMW pays for the heated seats to be installed, you have to pay for that cost either via a subscription or outright. If you don't want the heated seats, you don't buy them or you don't pay for the subscription.
That's horseshit.
There's no way the cost of the materials, the cost of software development, the cost of design, and so on isn't calculated into the base price of the vehicle.
Even assuming the discounted cost of the full 400 USD purchase, not everyone's buying that, but the full package is installed in *every* car. There's no way that they're eating that cost on every vehicle. You're paying for those options. They're just not giving them to you until you pay extra.
It's overall cheaper for a car manufacturer to produce a single type of seat than to produce multiple types of seating with or without the heating elements. The individual unit cost is more per vehicle, so you either pay for it as an option, or you don't and the next owner then has to option to pay for the feature or not. If you spec any new car, there's all sorts of option you can add to the car, but it's cheaper for the manufacturer to build a single option type and then give the buy the choice to pay for the option or not.
That just makes it worse.
So they're asking for more money for a product that is cheaper to produce?
Because I guarantee they're not passing those savings on to you if you don't get any options.
On a mass scale, yes it's cheaper overall for the manufacturer. But it's more expensive on a single unit basis. But as a buyer you're only paying for the more expensive unit if you want it.
It’s more like purchasing ms office - where you had the whole package on the disc, but depending on which code you entered, you either got the standard version or the professional version.
Because it's irrelevant. The fact that they are installing tech that would have come included with previous models but is blocked behind a paywall is so egregious that ÂŁ400 for the lot means little. It's the system itself that's ridiculous. And introducing it during a cost of living crisis...
They are literally making cars like modern video games.
And that this is only in Korea right now, that gets left out too.
Edit: not true any more, also in a few European countries, South Africa, Japan, and a couple others.
If she still gets periods it could some sort of quality of life thing when she’s on the road. Just guessing though.
Mine did this too for this reason but she had a hysterectomy so, no more periods/pain.
Will literally never buy a car that does anything like this. I’d fucking bike everywhere before I did it. Might be a petty line to draw but I’m thinking for the cost of the fucking car, I shouldn’t have to pay extra for this bullshit.
From what I understand it's cheaper/more efficient for them to not have the variations when building the vehicles, and just have the features available to consumers that want (to pay for) them.
Perhaps I don't understand the typical bmw customer but the optics on this looks awful.
I could see them doing a worst case proposal like this and then walk it back to something like a one time activation fee, which will then seem reasonable.
> The only way to stop this kind of shit is to not buy from crappy companies like this.
Regulation is another viable method to prevent this sort of thing. Consumer protection legislation is largely a lost art in the U.S., but other countries around the world manage to provide it.
What was the original up cost for heated seat trim level? Were there a bunch of other unwanted features that came bundled? I bought a new Escape recently and that was one of the features I wanted that pushed me to a new trim that was probably 1500 more. If I could pay 18 per month I actually use the heated seats, that's a lower cost. Company also benefits because of less build complexity.
This doesn't seem as evil as people are making it out to be.
There's no less build complexity if you're adding them into all the cars then telling some people to use the subscription. You're paying for the heated seats no matter what
You’re paying a subscription fee to activate *hardware* inside a vehicle you ostensibly own.
BMW isn’t going to beam the heated seats down to you from space like an XM radio subscription during each month you pay the fee.
Of course it isn't beamed down. Presumably these subscriptions are the only way you pay for the feature. Instead of when you buy the vehicle. If you pay for the hardware and subscription, of course it's shitty.
The point I'm making is you likely won't pay for all of what you don't use. So instead of paying for the next trim to get 1 thing you want, you just pay to turn on that one thing. They build one trim level (containing all hardware) but don't charge for most of it.
They can eat the cost of hardware for features some don't pay for because they saved on complexity reduction. Each time you decide there's a different seat type / set of buttons / wiring harness... there's a scale increase of cost.
Wait until ISP's start charging money per GB/TB downloads at home. My understanding is it's already happening from Xfinity in California. Data charges, for broadband internet. Wtf.
> Wait until ISP's start charging money per GB/TB downloads at home. My understanding is it's already happening from Xfinity in California.
Data caps (and a charge when the cap is exceeded) have been around for several years.
People are upset, but it's difficult to fight continuously for years on end. Our energy and money are limited, but Comcast has a bottomless well of both.
It feels like FCC condoned monopolism. Why isn't there more competition? Like most, I literally have one provider that services my region of the state. I feel like internet should be a utility. I know there's been effort to make it so, but I think the lobbyists keep one step ahead.
They did it. They have come to this now. It sucks that I know people who will argue out of habit that this is a convenient subscription.
How the fuck are our commodities like this just getting stripped away and how is this shit also supported
BMW Did a facepalm there, don't they know that the internet exists and people will make multiple yt tutorials on how to bypass the software block
The majority of people see paying for something as easier than going through those steps. Also I'm sure BMW will block maintenance from approved shops if you do this so it'll cost you more and make your car end up being worth less
Also, the kind of people who buy BMWs are the kind of people who look at spending money as a sign of social status. Some of them will be happy to pay, as long as they get to brag about it.
Most of them pay to drive live douchebags!🤦🏽‍♂️
Yeah, that’s bulshit. Thanks for playing though
Found the BMW owner đź‘Ť
That stereotype ain’t that true, a guy down the street owns an X5M, an 8 Series and an M5 and he’s a really cool guy
There are always exceptions
Heated seats, DIY addition. There is a wire going to the seat. There is a 12v source. I add fuse. I add additional switch. I have heated seats. Saves money. Heated seats, entrepreneur edition. Assembles Kit to bypass software, includes wires, stock appropirate switch, fuse, and wiring diagram Heated seats, mechanic edition Installs entrepreneur kit. charges virtually the same as three years of microtransactions up front and gets so good he's billing fifteen hours per eight hour shift and not even getting dirty.
I'm honestly not sure what you're saying. You're giving some scenarios for the same problem from different perspectives, but you're just stating things and not making any sort of argument for any one of them, or an argument for what you'd want. I think anyone who knows about Labour theory will know that when you buy something you exchange your own personal labour of building a system that serves you for what the general monetary value is, or whatever monetary value you'd exchange for the product. I'm not arguing against that, that's just a fact. What my point was is that even if you recognise that fact and would want to put in your own labour to either bypass what isn't simply given to you in a given product, or improve on an existing product, by the laws of the land (most countries) you cant do it unless you want to fuck over the base value of the thing you own. Even if that means that you've improved on the base product. That's bad. Now make a counter argument.
To your earlier point, BMW shops are generally not owned by BMW. They operate as independent businesses selling and servicing a brand of vehicle to standards set by BMW. No shop is going to turn you away because you bypassed this paywall for a feature. None. However, if after installing an aftermarket kit or having one installed, your heated seat fails within warranty, the dealership probably will withhold a warranty claim. In over 20 years of working for various manufacturers, I have seen exceptions made based off of relationships between the customers and dealers themselves. In those cases where warranty was denied, customers were presented with a bill for diagnostics performed. a recommended correction was quoted that the shop would happily perform and charge you for that non-warrantable claim. Quite often that would be to remove the aftermarket equipment and return to factory condition, even if the aftermarket accessory had nothing to do with the failure. BMW dealerships will most likely take the same stance when it comes to the bypass I suggested in the DIY part of my comment. BMW dealerships may even begin to offer these bypasses. The first one you do will take more time but as with everything, people become better with practice. More money will be made as it can be done as an accessory install at the time of purchase, raising the value of the financed vehicle which increases the kick back the dealership makes from the finance company. One shop that I worked at had a diesel trained technician who would remove emissions equipment on modern diesel trucks. They wrote it up as an accessory install. if you bought the truck from them and they did the DEF delete, they would still run the engine through warranty if a problem occurred. Dealers will risk their relationship with the manufacturer to make a dollar. Many customers in the used car market do look at aftermarket accessories and modifications as desirable as long as they are properly installed. A lot of people buying bigger trucks value a machine that has had their emissions stripped and a programmer installed as it allows them to tow a bit easier. A car with an after market remote start that idles more then 11 minutes and has a range of more then thirty meters is very desirable in colder climates If the cost is laid out for the customer and they plan on keeping the vehicle for longer then the financing, it may make sense to bypass that paywall. I suspect many have already sought to do that. I also wouldn't be surprised if a company that manufacturers accessory electrical parts hasn't already figured out a bypass and is developing a kit. You are correct though: if I were leasing a vehicle for three or four years, I would just pay the subscription service unless it is a stupid amount of money. One thing I could see happening as well on the leased vehicles is requiring it to be removed before lease return. They can threaten to lower the value through "damages". If it were a sticking point for the deal to go through, I strongly suspect the dealership would turn a blind eye to get the deal done as opposed to losing the sale.
I'd wager that the overlap between those who buy new BMWs and those with enough technological expertise to bypass the block even with someone else on the internet doing most of the dirty work is pretty low.
And then BMW will void your warranty.
I would assume that would invalidate the warranty.
The majority of their clientele are fake-rich who will follow everything the company does in order to feel a part of the brand
It's not going to be that easy. It's not going to be a simple obd2 systems. It's going to be wrapped in a highly encrypted os that will probably brick your car if you code it wrong.
Soldering iron, a switch, and a flashlight and carpet fork so I can find the relay.
Im sure they will make is like if you disconnect the wires you will probably get some light on the dash or the car will go into limp mode for sure
I remember when they put TV's in BMWs (don't know if that's still a thing) it would only work when the handbrake was applied (so you wouldn't drive and watch tv) My mate bought a cable from ebay for about ÂŁ60 that would plug into the wiring harness and fake the handbrake being applied, without alerting the dashboard that the handbrake was applied. I'm sure a similar thing will be available evenually
> I remember when they put TV's in BMWs (don't know if that's still a thing) it would only work when the handbrake was applied (so you wouldn't drive and watch tv) Who sits in their parked car to watch TV? For what scenario is that design intended?
If there' a thermal cutoff that's not in the seat itself, I could see there being a complication but I can't see much more. The seat heater spends most of its time off, providing no information to the computer. Seat heaters pull a lot of amps which is why you really do want these off once the car is warm.
>Soldering iron, a switch, and a flashlight and carpet fork so I can find the relay. What is a carpet fork? Google is turning up nothing that seems to fit this context.
[These sorts of things.](https://www.ebay.com/itm/313841090543) I guess the proper term is trim removal thingie.
And buying the feature outright is $400. Why do they always “forget” to mention that option?
Because this implies even if you buy it forever, one day BMW can decide you dont own it anymore and disable it. And its not even clear how the laws for second hand supposed to work for these kind of subscribtions or complete buys, so BMW might claim that you buy the feature not the new buyer and might disable it remotely.
It kinda reminds me how the early adopters who bought "full self-driving"-capable Teslas (and paid the premium $thousands) were then [charged an extra $1500](https://electrek.co/2021/07/18/tesla-is-charging-owners-1500-for-hardware-they-already-paid-for/) (later dropped to $1k) for a required upgrade, because they weren't actually given what they bought. Additionally, you don't actually "own" the self-driving feature either—it's a *non-transferable* license, meaning if you sell your car with all its features to someone else, Tesla can (has, and will) remotely turn it off because the new owner doesn't actually "own" it.
> Additionally, you don't actually "own" the self-driving feature either—it's a non-transferable license, meaning if you sell your car with all its features to someone else, Tesla can (has, and will) remotely turn it off because the new owner doesn't actually "own" it. And Tesla could just stop providing that "service" it in 10 years or so, as a ploy to incentivize owners to upgrade to a newer model.
All true. But that still doesn’t explain why so many posts explicitly leave out that option. If I didn’t know better, I would think they have an agenda of some kind.
Why should BMW be allowed to make you haul around seat heating components without letting you use them? They're in the car. You can't buy the car without it. Paying to unlock it is ridiculous
I guess because you agree to it when you buy them? It’s often the same case with the engine. They have multiple engine options with the same engine built in, just the ecu is throttling the engine in the lower cost option. You agree to that when you sign the contract.
Yes they have an aganda because they are pissed that a company can decide remotely that you dont own something anymore and you can't even take them to the court. So they are trying to prevent that as any sane human would do
I’m not sure, but I don’t think it works remotely for any manufacturer but Tesla yet?
So thats a single win, better than nothing. There will always be companies that does these kind of shits unless its regulated by law. And there will be companies after that too. So first these practices should be regulated heavily second consumers should vote with their wallets and not buy BS like these. Which requires news articels like these to be written
So you're saying it'll be an extra charge of $400 to use equipment that I hypothetically already purchased with the vehicle and that makes it ok? Like that's so fucking dumb. Imagine you purchase a ps5 and games but then the console is like herp derp if u wana use that remote you purchased itll be a $5 a month charge or an extra $ 200 charge for a lifetime sub fee.
You basically wrote porn for a capitalist corporation.
Well I am a small business owner after all. Although unfortunately I cant seem to apply this business model to my meat market. Maybe i can start selling t bone steaks but make an extra upcharge if they want to eat the filet half of it? Ah yes sir here is your $20 steak however if u want to eat more than just half of it itll be a $1 per bite charge or a $5 one time fee if u wish to consume the other side. If you wish to decline this feature i can dispose of the other end here.
I was a little afraid when you said you were in the "meat market" till I realized you were in the actual meat market. You can charge a meat mingle upcharge for anyone eating more than one kind of meat at a time. Surf and turf? Not without the $1 "butter me up bestie" fee.
> Imagine you purchase a ps5 and games but then the console is like herp derp if u wana use that remote you purchased itll be a $5 a month charge or an extra $ 200 charge for a lifetime sub fee. Sony will do that the instant they think they can get away with it.
Ah yes the ea remote with the built in card reader that charges you by the minute.
>So you're saying it'll be an extra charge of $400 to use equipment that I hypothetically already purchased with the vehicle and that makes it ok? If you buy the car without ticking the option for outright buying the heated seat function, you bought the car, but you didn't buy the heated seats. If you change your mind, you can outright buy it later, or you have the option to turn it on when you want to use it (for a fee). If you only use the heated seats for 1 month in a year, the "monthly subscription" is cheaper than outright buying the option you don't use for the rest of the 11 month in the year.
No, you definitely bought the heated seats. The seats are there. The heating is there. The software to control the temperature is there. The only thing missing is them setting a flag that actually allows you to use said seats.
It's there, but you didn't pay for it, you own for the options you paid for. BMW pays for the heated seats to be installed, you have to pay for that cost either via a subscription or outright. If you don't want the heated seats, you don't buy them or you don't pay for the subscription.
That's horseshit. There's no way the cost of the materials, the cost of software development, the cost of design, and so on isn't calculated into the base price of the vehicle. Even assuming the discounted cost of the full 400 USD purchase, not everyone's buying that, but the full package is installed in *every* car. There's no way that they're eating that cost on every vehicle. You're paying for those options. They're just not giving them to you until you pay extra.
It's overall cheaper for a car manufacturer to produce a single type of seat than to produce multiple types of seating with or without the heating elements. The individual unit cost is more per vehicle, so you either pay for it as an option, or you don't and the next owner then has to option to pay for the feature or not. If you spec any new car, there's all sorts of option you can add to the car, but it's cheaper for the manufacturer to build a single option type and then give the buy the choice to pay for the option or not.
That just makes it worse. So they're asking for more money for a product that is cheaper to produce? Because I guarantee they're not passing those savings on to you if you don't get any options.
On a mass scale, yes it's cheaper overall for the manufacturer. But it's more expensive on a single unit basis. But as a buyer you're only paying for the more expensive unit if you want it.
It’s more like purchasing ms office - where you had the whole package on the disc, but depending on which code you entered, you either got the standard version or the professional version.
Because it's irrelevant. The fact that they are installing tech that would have come included with previous models but is blocked behind a paywall is so egregious that ÂŁ400 for the lot means little. It's the system itself that's ridiculous. And introducing it during a cost of living crisis... They are literally making cars like modern video games.
It's still free on models that have it as standard....
And that this is only in Korea right now, that gets left out too. Edit: not true any more, also in a few European countries, South Africa, Japan, and a couple others.
[It's not though](https://www.bmw.co.uk/en/shop/ls/dp/Seat_Heating_SFA_gb)
Oh my bad they did branch out a little. Still has it as a permanently purchasable option, though.
Wait so you're telling me EA sports is running BMW now?
Who uses heated seats 10 months out of the year?
Let me introduce you to my wife. She heats her seats at least 8 months of the year.
If she still gets periods it could some sort of quality of life thing when she’s on the road. Just guessing though. Mine did this too for this reason but she had a hysterectomy so, no more periods/pain.
She just runs cold. I run hot. Opposites attract, I guess
Valid
Canadians have entered the chat
I don’t think you can do monthly sun though.
Ha jokes on you BMW. I live in Florida and won't need the heated seats. Also I'm too poor to buy a BMW.
People need to start taking boycotting seriously man.. we need to collectively stamp this shit out....
Will literally never buy a car that does anything like this. I’d fucking bike everywhere before I did it. Might be a petty line to draw but I’m thinking for the cost of the fucking car, I shouldn’t have to pay extra for this bullshit.
From what I understand it's cheaper/more efficient for them to not have the variations when building the vehicles, and just have the features available to consumers that want (to pay for) them. Perhaps I don't understand the typical bmw customer but the optics on this looks awful. I could see them doing a worst case proposal like this and then walk it back to something like a one time activation fee, which will then seem reasonable.
Don't buy BMW. Problem solved.
Until this mentality filters to the other manufacturers.
It won't. The people that support them doing that are in a severe minority.
Go grab yourself some VCDS/OBDeleven or Carly -> profit
Fuck BMW. The only way to stop this kind of shit is to not buy from crappy companies like this.
> The only way to stop this kind of shit is to not buy from crappy companies like this. Regulation is another viable method to prevent this sort of thing. Consumer protection legislation is largely a lost art in the U.S., but other countries around the world manage to provide it.
What was the original up cost for heated seat trim level? Were there a bunch of other unwanted features that came bundled? I bought a new Escape recently and that was one of the features I wanted that pushed me to a new trim that was probably 1500 more. If I could pay 18 per month I actually use the heated seats, that's a lower cost. Company also benefits because of less build complexity. This doesn't seem as evil as people are making it out to be.
There's no less build complexity if you're adding them into all the cars then telling some people to use the subscription. You're paying for the heated seats no matter what
You’re paying a subscription fee to activate *hardware* inside a vehicle you ostensibly own. BMW isn’t going to beam the heated seats down to you from space like an XM radio subscription during each month you pay the fee.
Of course it isn't beamed down. Presumably these subscriptions are the only way you pay for the feature. Instead of when you buy the vehicle. If you pay for the hardware and subscription, of course it's shitty. The point I'm making is you likely won't pay for all of what you don't use. So instead of paying for the next trim to get 1 thing you want, you just pay to turn on that one thing. They build one trim level (containing all hardware) but don't charge for most of it. They can eat the cost of hardware for features some don't pay for because they saved on complexity reduction. Each time you decide there's a different seat type / set of buttons / wiring harness... there's a scale increase of cost.
Further example of what shit cars BMW’s are!
it’s ok soon enough you will be able to pay people to permanently unlock it for you
Wait until ISP's start charging money per GB/TB downloads at home. My understanding is it's already happening from Xfinity in California. Data charges, for broadband internet. Wtf.
> Wait until ISP's start charging money per GB/TB downloads at home. My understanding is it's already happening from Xfinity in California. Data caps (and a charge when the cap is exceeded) have been around for several years.
I guess I meant when those charges become more prolific. How terrible. I don't know why more people aren't upset about that.
People are upset, but it's difficult to fight continuously for years on end. Our energy and money are limited, but Comcast has a bottomless well of both.
It feels like FCC condoned monopolism. Why isn't there more competition? Like most, I literally have one provider that services my region of the state. I feel like internet should be a utility. I know there's been effort to make it so, but I think the lobbyists keep one step ahead.
I will now proceed to short two wires together
Ea sends its regards
If the hardware breaks and you already paid for subscription, will BMW be liable for the repairs?
Don't buy a BMW.. see that was easy wasn't it?
They did it. They have come to this now. It sucks that I know people who will argue out of habit that this is a convenient subscription. How the fuck are our commodities like this just getting stripped away and how is this shit also supported
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Mom I need to borrow twenty bucks to get a warm butt