Subscription car extras: tuners unlock expensive features
Created: 05/08/2022, 17:00
By: Marcus Efler
Subscribe instead of buying: car manufacturers like BMW and Tesla are offering more and more extras for a monthly fee.
But customers can probably get them cheaper.
The long list of surcharges when buying a new car annoys many drivers - but the system that is currently being used is not much better received.
Manufacturers, especially Tesla, are increasingly installing the extras ex works, but only activate them when the customer subscribes and pays for them.
Of course, this can still be done as a one-off payment (which is then called a “lifetime subscription”), but also as a monthly or annual fee.
This can certainly have advantages, for example if the buyer first wants to try out an option that is subject to a surcharge or if he later resells the car.
The manufacturers, in turn, hope for additional business.
However, their subscription strategy is also not entirely harmless.
The seat heater is an often criticized example of the new subscription strategy of the manufacturers.
(Iconic image) © IlluPics/Imago
Subscription car extras: tuners unlock expensive features
BMW is currently feeling this.
The people of Munich have had to take a lot of criticism on social networks because they charge 17 euros a month for the seat heating that is already installed.
To be fair, it has to be mentioned that this comfort extra is included as standard in many models and is permanent (unlike the navigation system at Tesla, for example).
But even if you don't order the seat heating and pay it at BMW, you can obviously use it and other extras - thanks to an emerging industry of hackers and tuners.
In the USA, these software specialists have been at work for a long time and unlock functions, for example at Tesla (even if it doesn't always work, as in this bizarre case).
Subscription car extras: Apple CarPlay at a bargain price
Now the trend has also reached Europe and is endangering the fresh subscription model of car manufacturers.
Tuners, who have already unlocked engine performance via chip tuning, unlock the hidden functions for a relatively small amount.
According to a report by
Wired
, British hackers activate the Apple CarPlay iPhone connection and voice recognition for 40 British pounds (approx. 47 euros) – a fraction of the normal one-off payment for a permanent subscription.
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Cars from VW, Audi and BMW are said to be particularly often in the workshops of the comfort tuners.
And sometimes leave them as illegal vehicles, for example when the TV function of the center console can also be used while driving.
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Subscription car extras: Cheap upgrades are made more difficult
No wonder, then, that the manufacturers are upgrading and making the hacks more difficult.
Control units that were previously easy to manipulate are now protected by code.
The increasing spread of fully networked vehicles also makes cheap upgrades more difficult: Over the Air (OTA), i.e. from a distance, the manufacturers can then simply restore the original state.