SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the fine-print-giveth-and-small-print-taketh-away dept.
People Are Jailbreaking Used Teslas to Get the Features They Expect:
People have certain expectations when they buy a car. For example, they expect it to work for years afterwards needing only basic maintenance. They also expect that the purchase price includes ownership of not only the physical car itself but all the software that runs it.
Tesla doesn't agree.
Last week, Jalopnik ran an article about a person who bought a used Tesla from a dealer—who in turn bought it at auction directly from Tesla under California's lemon law buyback program—advertised as having Autopilot, the company's Advanced Driver Assistance System. The entire Autopilot package, which the car had when the dealer bought it, costs an extra $8,000. Then, Tesla remotely removed the software because "Full-Self Driving was not a feature that you had paid for." Tesla said if the customer wanted Autopilot back, he'd have to fork over the $8,000.
Tesla clawing back software upgrades from used cars is not a new practice for the company. "Tesla as a policy has been doing this for years on salvage cars," said Phil Sadow, an independent Tesla repair professional. One former employee, who used to work in an official Tesla service center and asked to remain anonymous because he still works with Tesla in another capacity, said he was told to put the software features back if people complained to avoid bad publicity. He left about a year ago.
But that doesn't mean Tesla owners are helpless. Sadow and others have ways to push back against Tesla by jailbreaking the cars and getting the features owners feel are rightfully theirs.
"As far as I am concerned removing a paid-for feature, regardless of the state of the car, is theft," Sadow said. "It's as if a bunch of guys show up in a van and take your upgraded 20" wheels. Just because it's software, it's no different."
(Score: 3, Informative) by bzipitidoo on Thursday February 13 2020, @01:44PM (2 children)
> Jailbreak it and you may end in jail. Or staring death in the face.
Eh, probably a lot safer than driving a heavily speed modded classic car. Know what a T-bucket is?
> a car no longer certified as safe
One of the biggest safety increases we could make in our current lifestyle is to not use motorized vehicles at all, except for medical emergencies. Cars simply aren't safe. Car safety has improved hugely over the decades, but they're still in the top 10 for biggest threats to an individual's health and safety.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday February 13 2020, @02:02PM (1 child)
Wasn't familiar with the term, I saw plenty about 1 week ago (there's an annual show of classic and modded cars nearby), thanks.
I tend to disagree on this point - probably because I'm in software development for quite a long time and I saw and committed my fair share of bugs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Insightful) by fyngyrz on Thursday February 13 2020, @04:13PM
Obligatory [xkcd.com]
--
Patience: What you exercise when there are too many witnesses.