Latest grab by auto manufactures

[BoylermanCT]

Just bought a 2022 Chevy Silverado. It has 2 remote start options. One is on the FOB. This is mine for the life of the truck at no additional cost. Works within 200 ft of the truck. The other is remote start using the MyChevrolet app on my phone. This requires a $6 a month OnStar subscription and includes all of the functionality of the MyChevrolet app. I can start my car with the MyChevrolet app from anywhere in the US. Other app features are unlimited wifi data on the truck's hotspot, trailer light testing (every truck should have this), lock / unlock, sound alarm, flash lights, unlock tailgate, vehicle locate / tracking. For me, these features are worth $6.

 

[ultrarunner]

Thanks for posting a in the field report...

Connectivity is a big deal...

 

[mrmikey]

I can start my car with the MyChevrolet app from anywhere in the US.

Not to be an a$$ but why would you want to?
The way I figure it if a person wants to pay, in your case', $6 a month for those types of extras , have at it as it's a software extra, it's not controlling something physical on the vehicle such as heated seats, steering wheel, fob remote start etc. that I've already paid for. and should be mine with no extra charge......Mike

 

[WM75Guy]

Our car is kept in the garage so I don't think it would be a good idea to use the remote start.
A better item to have would be a garage.

Ours are in the garage at home but not at work.

 

[gsganzer]

If you lock yourself out of your car, On Star can open it for you. Cell phone can’t without an app. And if you lock your phone and keys in the car, you can borrow someone else’s phone and call On Star to have them open if for you.

So there are advantages to On Star Vs a cell phone.

I agree on the crash benefit and tracking/disabling a stolen vehicle. So does the data support that cars equipped with OnStar are stolen less and if so, is there an insurance discount that off-sets any monthly fee.

Regarding lost keys, I remember the old days of wiring/taping a spare key up under the chassis for such events.

I have a similar feature with FordPass for my F250.

It was free, but I'll need to see if it has a sundown and becomes a monthly charge. That's exactly the business model many of these features employ, start out as free and then once you take your eye off the ball, fee's begin to kick in.

 

[gsganzer]

... heck, I even remember when I had to take my gas cap off before getting fuel.

Hahaha!! My wife borrowed our spare F150 one day to run an errand. When she got back, she chewed up one side and down the other about either me or my girls losing the gas cap!!! It doesn't have one. Boy, did I have fun with that one!

 

[newbury]

Everyone has a vote on this subject. If you don't like it, the don't buy it. If enough people refuse to buy into this b.s., then it will

Except very often the manufacturer "bundles" a feature one needs with a useless to them feature.

The way to deal with that is to not buy their crap.

A year ago I was reading something about how people were sick and tired of all the software companies switching to subscriptions instead of standalone software.
I remember feeling very good about not using any microsoft or apple garbage.
In Linux there is more and better software and all of it is free.
I tell people this all the time. I show them my OS and let them play with it, I show them the various software packages etc.. So far I have achieved a conversion rate of ZERO.

I didn't get into Linux until version 0.95 on IIRC 11 3.5" diskettes., now mostly use it for data recovery.

On lost key fobs I just recently had a "close" call.
We were doing our final load for a several month trip from Va. to Ms., 2019 Ford Escape, 2 key fobs, original batteries.
My fob stopped working, wife's still worked (she rarely used it in the last three years).
Tried to replace the battery in mine, only had some "new" batteries that had been stored and were suspect, Couldn't get mine to work, no time to get NEW batteries or a new fob so we drove down anyways.
Finally got to the Ford dealership in Fulton.
Ford parts guy swaps in a new battery in my fob. Didn't work.
Tells me a new fob is in order -
$280 +tax and MAYBE A MONTH OR SO!!
I'm PO'd but what to do.
So I tell him to replace the battery in my wife's fob.
He opens it up, goes "WHOOPS", opens up mine, he had put the new battery in UPSIDE DOWN!
Changes it, and VOILA it works! Then he replaced the wife's fob battery. And only charged me for one.
I wish they had an option for JUST a KEY.

 

[Raul-02]

rue but I am referring to the "free" apps that corporations spend millions of dollars on.

There is no Million$$ or Billion$$ with Linux. Almost all the people doing the work are volunteer.

 

[Raul-02]

I don’t see nor do I understand why people live in fear of only what might go wrong?

Well there is the might go wrong as in "what if the planet opened up and swallowed you"

And then there is the might go wrong that is the kind that has happened so bloody many times before that you see it in the newspapers, hear about from acquaintances, know some who it happened to, and about which there are books written.
Everything exists on a continuum except pregnancy. No one is just a little bit pregnant.

Even Death is on a continuum. here's proof

 

[Raul-02]

A better item to have would be a garage.

I had one of those once long ago. It hated being a garage. It transformed into a weld shop a sheet metal shop a wood shop and a machine shop and is much happier now.