Toyota to make remote start a subscription

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

Brian- did you find a good alternative to Quicken?

For what little I was doing with it, I just went to a spreadsheet.

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

As for subscriptions related to cars, I hope Congress kills this nonsense. It could be construed as a safety issue in some cases.

I think Toyota is being careful about what functionality is affected, so that fundamental capabilities and the ability to distribute updates for those capabilities are not lost when a subscription lapses.

[Dave Walter]

Originally Posted by Micheal K

No, not referring to remote start via an app on your phone but a future fee based subscription to use the RF remote start on your keyfob.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/43329/...iption-service

Personally I hope consumer backlash makes toyota (and other car companies considering similar moves) reconsider asinine cash grabs like this.

I call B*** S*** on this article. It is true that you need to pay for a subscription for the remote connect service which includes remote starting your Toyota by an app on your cell phone. However, if you don't renew your subscription you can still start your Toyota using the remote start feature on your key fob (if is is equipped with that feature). The 1year free subscription that came with my 2021 4R expired in Aug 2022 and since then I cannot start the 4R with my phone, however, I am still able to do so with the key fob!

[gbaglo]

My fob has lock, unlock, open hatch and panic alarm.

[Micheal K]

Originally Posted by Dave Walter

I call B*** S*** on this article.

Here’s a link on toyota’s own website with the same info

https://www.toyota.com/content/conne...onnect_CFA.pdf

The panel describing key fob functionality appears to say remote start on the keyfob will work for 3 yrs (or 10 yrs) so you wouldn’t have any loss of function in just one year.

Pretty much all of the automotive and tech websites have picked up on the story so if it’s incorrect I would expect Toyota to issue a statement to clear up the misunderstanding. Guess we’ll see...

[Ooshkaboo]

Originally Posted by Dave Walter

I call B*** S*** on this article. It is true that you need to pay for a subscription for the remote connect service which includes remote starting your Toyota by an app on your cell phone. However, if you don't renew your subscription you can still start your Toyota using the remote start feature on your key fob (if is is equipped with that feature). The 1year free subscription that came with my 2021 4R expired in Aug 2022 and since then I cannot start the 4R with my phone, however, I am still able to do so with the key fob!

I remember the rotary phone on our kitchen wall worked fine when replaced with the push button phone, but to use the extra touch tone features it was an additional 1 dollar a month.

It didn’t take too long and that 1 dollar charge was lifted and everyone with a push button phone was set.

I haven’t had a landline phone in my home for years, I have a computer in my pocket.

Not to worry about any of it, sky-net will be here soon.

[bdornbush]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

Brian- did you find a good alternative to Quicken?

I bought the subscription to Quicken and am happy with it. You can actually call and get support on the phone without an additional charge, and software updates come out at least monthly. It is a better product than it was before Intuit sold the product and someone else took over and improved the service.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by bdornbush

I bought the subscription to Quicken and am happy with it. You can actually call and get support on the phone without an additional charge, and software updates come out at least monthly. It is a better product than it was before Intuit sold the product and someone else took over and improved the service.

The subscription pricing for Quicken started when it still belonged to Intuit. I knew a senior technical professional at Intuit and he described the internal debate over the change, which he thought was unwise and knew would alienate customers.

I'm pretty sure that Toyota knows this will be unpopular with customers, but they have decided that since it is only customers who are not in the market for a new vehicle, they don't matter.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Ooshkaboo

I remember the rotary phone on our kitchen wall worked fine when replaced with the push button phone, but to use the extra touch tone features it was an additional 1 dollar a month.

It didn’t take too long and that 1 dollar charge was lifted and everyone with a push button phone was set.

The difference is that with technical changes in switching equipment, the phone companies wanted everyone to have DTMF ("Touch-Tone") and rotary-dial became an additional hassle for them to support... so it was in their interest to get rid of rotary-dial phones, regardless of fees.

[Ooshkaboo]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

The difference is that with technical changes in switching equipment, the phone companies wanted everyone to have DTMF ("Touch-Tone") and rotary-dial became an additional hassle for them to support... so it was in their interest to get rid of rotary-dial phones, regardless of fees.

Kinda my point, things work out…

But if you’re in the mood to sharpshoot, have at it.

Merry Christmas…

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Ooshkaboo

Kinda my point, things work out…

But in the case of the Toyota fees that are the subject of this thread, the situation is different so it won't work out for the vehicle owner... especially if customers - and more importantly prospective customers - don't express their dissatisfaction.

[TTMartin]

Toyota Back-Pedals on Key Fob Subscriptions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfDoc6wegss

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by TTMartin

Toyota Back-Pedals on Key Fob Subscriptions

This video is more than ten minutes long.

[Micheal K]

Here’s the link to the follow up article by The Drive -

https://www.thedrive.com/news/43636/...ssive-blowback

Apparently Toyota now says this...

Toyota now claims it never intended to market the key fob remote start as a real feature, and it also says the subscription requirement was an inadvertent result of a relatively small technical decision related to the way its new vehicles are architectured. Finally, Toyota has heard the outrage over the last week—a spokesperson told us the company was caught off guard by the blowback—and its executive team is currently examining whether it's possible to reverse course and drop the subscription requirement for key fob remote start.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

This video is more than ten minutes long.

Steve does like the sound of his own voice, and talks way too much. Must be a lawyer, heh. most of his stories could be covered thoroughly in 2-3 minutes. and he does two of these a day, every day, phew.

[gbaglo]

I didn't actually watch it, seeing the length. I appreciated the written synopsis posted by Micheal K.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Micheal K

Here’s the link to the follow up article by The Drive -

https://www.thedrive.com/news/43636/...ssive-blowback

Apparently Toyota now says this...

It does look like a stupid software decision, but that's no excuse. Lots of people at Toyota saw (or were shown) the problem, and put a lot of effort into explaining how a subscription would be needed instead of fixing the problem. Every word that was published took effort to review and approve, by people who chose to do that instead of just making the problem go away.

The idea - explained in the article - that key fob remote starting was a feature that was going to be dropped anyway is even more moronic, since no rational person could possibly provide a radio-linked device for a vehicle with remote starting ability and not enable that device to start the vehicle... at zero additional production cost.