Chie Ferrelli loved her Subaru SUV, which she bought in 2020 because it made her feel safe. So when it was time for her husband, Marc, to purchase his own new car last summer, they returned to the Subaru dealer near their home in southeast Massachusetts. But there was a catch, one that made the couple mad: Marc's sedan wouldn't have access to the company's telematics system and the app that went along with it. No remote engine start in the freezing New England winter; no emergency assistance; no automated messages when the tire pressure was low or the oil needed changing. The worst part was that if the Ferrellis lived just a mile away, in Rhode Island, they would have the features. They bought the car. But thinking back, Marc says, if he had known about the issue before stepping into the dealership he "probably would have gone with Toyota."
Subaru disabled the telematics system and associated features on new cars registered in Massachusetts last year as part of a spat over a right-to-repair ballot measure approved, overwhelmingly, by the state's voters in 2020. The measure, which has been held up in the courts, required automakers to give car owners and independent mechanics more access to data about the car's internal systems.
Related Stories
A while back, retired journalist and octogenarian, Chris Biddle, had an excellent interview with author and digital rights activist Cory Doctorow about digital restrictions. They speak in particular about digital restrictions technologies which have been spread within agricultural equipment through the equipment's firmware. Their conversation starts out with mention of the use of network-connected firmware to brick the tractors which were looted from dealership sales lots in Ukraine by the invading Russian army. Cory gives a detailed overview of the issues hidden away by the mainstream press under the feel-good stories about the incident.
But was the bigger picture more worrying? I speak with Cory Doctorow, author, Guardian journalist with a special interest in protecting human rights in this digital age.
He says that whilst 'kill-switches' used to disable the machinery provide a security benefit, it is possible that widely available 'hacking' technology could also be used to disrupt the world's agricultural infrastructure by those with more sinister motives.
All of which feeds into the Right to Repair cases currently going through the US courts. It is also all about who owns the tractor, who owns data, and who owns the rights to the embedded software?
Deere contends that a customer can never fully own connected machinery because it holds exclusive rights to the software coding.
Some US farmers have attempted to unlock the embedded by purchasing illegal firmware –mostly developed by sophisticated hackers based in Ukraine!
The interview is just under 45 minutes.
Previously:
(2022) New York State Passes First Electronics Right-to-Repair Bill
(2022) John Deere Remotely Disables Farm Equipment Stolen by Russians from Ukraine Dealership
(2022) A Fight Over the Right to Repair Cars Turns Ugly
(2021) Apple and John Deere Shareholder Resolutions Demand They Explain Their Bad Repair Policies
(2021) The FTC is Investigating Why McDonald's McFlurry Machines are "Always Broken"
(2020) Europe Wants a 'Right to Repair' Smartphones and Gadgets
(2019)
New Elizabeth Warren Policy Supports "Right to Repair"
(2016) Sweden Wants to Fight Disposable Culture with Tax Breaks for Repairing Old Stuff
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday February 09 2022, @06:46AM (29 children)
First world privileged white middle class problems. I can't empathize with any of that, it's all silly nonsense.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09 2022, @07:12AM (3 children)
In my day we walked or caught public transit.
Toronto and Montreal even have underground cities for such a purpose of evading a "freezing New England winter".
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Wednesday February 09 2022, @03:17PM (2 children)
You must not be in the US. What is this public transit thing you speak of?
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09 2022, @03:50PM (1 child)
You know. It's what those fancy people in lycra use to transport their bicycles around. They say how it's all about saving the planet because there are fewer cars on the road (as if they'd be caught dead doing that), or about how it's for poor people (although it doesn't run so much to the ghetto, so frequently, or so conveniently), but we all know it's for the bicycles.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 10 2022, @05:41PM
ohhhh... you mean because other places have a higher quality of life... I get it now! Thanks
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09 2022, @07:26AM (10 children)
I understand your sentiment. I've often thought modern conveniences, automation, etc., are making people soft and stupid.
However, there's another angle: it's a bit of a bait-and-switch. People bought these cars expecting those things to work. IMHO, it's not okay to remove features after the sale, and should not be legal to do so.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09 2022, @07:46AM (5 children)
Especially features required by law like electronic tire pressure gauges.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by rob_on_earth on Wednesday February 09 2022, @09:49AM
It just says email alerts for the tire pressure were disabled, so the warning on the vehicle display itself should still show.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09 2022, @01:55PM (3 children)
I didn't know that was required by law anywhere. Do you know where? I'm guessing mother-hen, helicopter parent California.
(Score: 3, Informative) by RS3 on Wednesday February 09 2022, @06:03PM (2 children)
A quick (and easy) websearch shows, including the Wiki, that the requirement is quite widespread in US, Russia, Europe, Japan, etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire-pressure_monitoring_system [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Thursday February 10 2022, @12:23AM (1 child)
Wow. It's absurd how complicated vehicles are getting. All this tech isn't light. A heavy vehicle is an inefficient vehicle.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday February 10 2022, @07:39AM
Interesting angle. I'm a little doubtful that all the junk is much weight added in percentage, but maybe. I just hate the unnecessary complexity. A work friend, who has worked in auto mechanics for years, told me about how much time and effort he wasted this past weekend trying to fix his 2000 Chevy 4x4 pickup truck's electric 4x4 transfer case actuating mechanism.
Much too long a story, and far too many $ wasted, including that one module might have burnt out the brand new motor / servo part. Please give me a good old fashioned simple mechanical linkage. If it develops a problem, it's pretty easy to look at it, figure it out, fix it. Electronic things require too much specialized test equipment, and cost far too much for what they really are. (And I'm an EE, and car enthusiast. Sigh.)
(Score: 4, Insightful) by rigrig on Wednesday February 09 2022, @12:02PM (2 children)
> it's not okay to remove features after the sale
But they didn't: Subaru stopped enabling these features on new cars. And customers were even told about it before purchasing one, FTFA:
Note how it says
Somehow he acts as if stepping into the dealership means he just had to buy a car before walking out.
No one remembers the singer.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09 2022, @12:56PM (1 child)
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09 2022, @01:48PM
All we know is they have no access to any data that the car is collecting. There is no proof that data collection has stopped.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 12 2022, @02:13AM
Would be illegal in any legal system that make rights inalienable. IE, unable to be 'agreed' away in any contract.
In this case, the consumer's right that it was not sold on false pretext has been violated, and it should not matter whatever the actual contract of sale said, because it is very reasonable to expect the advertised feature to remain intact.
Because any clause in any contract cannot render null a 'real' legal right, under any situation, it the right should remain in force.
However, please do realize that in crazy USA, you absolutely can 'sign away your rights' if you sign without understanding the fine-print.
So, these people are left without a legal leg to stand on, because your legal system prioritizes contracts (and thus, business and corporations) far, far above anything relevant to actual living, breathing individual people.
Rich corporations just want their contracts to be absolute and binding always - they can always employ better lawyers than their poorer competitors, after all.
There are, however, legal systems for which this case would not be so remarkable, they could probably just have brought it to court with a request for the sale to be reversed, and it would likely be ordered so by the court. Because this would be exercise of a basic consumer protection, which is a right. They would not be able to 'sue for damages', but neither should employing a lawyer be necessary in such a trivial case. The dealership would find itself with court order telling to accept back the car, and completely refund it.
If they tried to argue that they should be allowed to keep some of the money "because it's worth less, it's used now!", they would simply be told "And that's your fault, so you get no remedy".
If they tried to argue that it shouldn't be allowed, because it would 'set a bad precident', they'd be told "Well, maybe you could simply ask your prospective customers if they are aware about the loss of functionality in such cases, and if they're still willing to buy knowing that such features will be available? Of course, they could then negotiate a lower price, they are receiving less for their money, after all. You didn't ask because you didn't want to give them a reason to ask for a lower price, so it's really all on you. Denied".
"Only in America"... Which I wish was funny, but it isn't, since now most people who live in countries having non-broken legal systems now often don't realize that their rights cannot be signed away, so cut-throat American sales tactics are all too common.
Which makes cases like this unremarkable (in the courts that hear them, of the countries which actually protect the legal rights of its citizens from contract sharks), yet also sadly less common than the people have a right to: Too many burned consumers fail to exercise their legal rights, simply because they think their rights *CAN* be signed away, just like in USA. This is the problem with consuming too much USA media.
And saddest of all is that USA people think their country is 'the land of the free'. Free to be a slave for your corporations, you mean, who are themselves much more 'free' to treat people like commodities.
In the obviously superiour country *I* reside in (not that it's perfect), I can sign agreements and contracts with legalese stating things like 'shall agree not to excercise your right too...' as much as I like, safe in the knowledge that any such clause becomes unenforcable, null and void automatically. Which is why such agreements are often prefaced with 'to the maximum extent permitted by law', which is cute because that extent could be summed up as 'not at all'.
I'll still be held by to the *other* clauses, of the agreement, again unless those clauses violate any other of my rights, of course. Assuming of course that the agreement is a valid contract itself.
Which makes click-through EULA's very amusing: They are also, in their entirety, null and void if they appear *after* money changes hands: Since one of those very obvious consumer protections is that an agreement cannot change terms after a contract of sale has been made, and a valid contract cannot be made to an as-yet-unidentified person, without exchange of consideration either: otherwise it would be a new contract of sale.
The only EULA's worth reading at all, are the ones that pop up before you commit to pay: Those are binding (again, 'to the extent permitted...'), because they are the contract of sale at that time.
But again, I'm afraid all you poor USA people are out of luck.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09 2022, @07:26AM (1 child)
You just walk into a delaership blind? No research, no awareness of changing local rules and regulations? Well, the buyer should have done due diligence.
(Score: 4, Funny) by epitaxial on Wednesday February 09 2022, @06:01PM
But the commercials showed dogs and happy people!
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09 2022, @11:48AM
Way to get distracted by a side issue just to make yourslf feel superior. For shame.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Wednesday February 09 2022, @12:47PM
For once I'm inclined to agree with you, Runs. Have an upmod.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09 2022, @01:49PM (7 children)
Says the person who lives at a location where the temperature never drops below freezing.
LOL @ you!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday February 09 2022, @02:42PM (6 children)
False. Arkansas is not in the tropics, you know. "Seldom drops below freezing" would be more accurate, but we see sub-zero temperatures here almost every year.
That out of the way, I've lived in Alaska and Maine, and never felt the need to idle a gasoline powered vehicle before driving off. Fire it up, idle just long enough for the idle to smooth, and it's time to go. Idling wastes fuel. The same holds true for old-time carburetors and ignitions, as it does for modern fuel injected electronic ignitions.
Diesel engines, I've warmed a little bit, but not for comfort. At sub-zero temps, a diesel never will "warm up" until it is put under a load. Fast idle long enough for the coughing and popping to stop, your oil pressure looks good, then you get gone. Again, the same applies to old mechanical fuel pumps with natural aspiration, and today's computer controlled turbo charged engines.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by ElizabethGreene on Wednesday February 09 2022, @03:19PM (3 children)
Where I live it is customary to idle the vehicle while you are chipping the ice off the windshield and brushing the snow off the roof. This gives the heater time to warm the glass so it doesn't fog from your breath 30 seconds after you drive away.
Sidebar: It's scary as to be driving down the highway and have a big floof of snow fly off the vehicle in front of you. Please remove that as a courtesy to other drivers. Think of it as a test of character, like putting the cart back in the corral at the grocery store.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09 2022, @03:56PM (2 children)
If I have three feet of snow accumulation on my truck that I have to drive to take product to market, the chances of my stopping to shovel it all off are somewhere between zero and hahaha.
If you think wasting my time pushing ice around, knowing full well that tree branches will drop more in, on and around my vehicle when I'm out and about, is a test of my character, let me tell you what the test says: I'm smarter than you. And apparently better suited to driving in a winter environment.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday February 09 2022, @04:44PM (1 child)
Uhhh, you really ought to take ElizabethGreene's advice. If you're making deliveries and that big "floof" of snow causes someone to drive off the road, YOU are liable. Worst case scenario, ice from your truck actually breaks the windshield and kills the occupants of the car behind you. Not likely, but possible. As a commercial driver, you're liable for negligent homicide, where a non-commercial driver may not be.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 10 2022, @12:47AM
There is a reason Runaway had to stop driving truck.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 10 2022, @10:49PM (1 child)
Interesting! (Checking criminal records databases.) And they say doxxing is prohibited on SN?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 11 2022, @12:24AM
You're still a moron, ari. For all your efforts over the past few years, you still have nothing of value. Why are you obsessed with some old man who thinks you are a contemptible shit? How many other members are you obsessed with?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09 2022, @02:07PM
First world privileged white middle class problems.
White middle class problem? WTF man!! A seven word statement that is equally R't, P'd, and B'd. Well done!
Do you actually think that Japanese (or any other race ) in America never buy Japanese cars like Subaru. Or high end BMW or Mercedes, which all have those features. Heck, even "cheap" cars like Kia and Hyndai are making remote-start standard in most of their cars. At least in cold climates.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by mcgrew on Thursday February 10 2022, @05:05PM
Yeah, Mister Southern California, if they take away your car's AC you won't bitch, despite the fact that nobody had AC when I was a kid, back before the EPA when you had to roll the windows up in 95 degree F weather driving past Monsanto so the air wouldn't hurt your lungs?
The actual POINT is that Subaru is evil and fools do business with them. "Subaru disabled the telematics system and associated features on new cars registered in Massachusetts last year as part of a spat over a right-to-repair ballot measure." Have you had those reading comprehension problems since you learned to read?
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Barenflimski on Wednesday February 09 2022, @08:15AM (9 children)
They pay you by your zip code, why not charge you by your zip code?
If we allow it, companies will begin to charge people based on percentage points of their current salary, based on their addresses.
If we allow companies to completely change how they price things, it won't take long until every major company says, "We wouldn't survive without that financial model, so therefore, we are going to adopt this for our share holders."
If price fixing happens this way, there will be zero debate among the people about price fixing, and little recourse, as it will be described as 'necessary for the economy brought about by market forces.'
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09 2022, @01:00PM
Remember when soft drink vending machine companies wanted to make machines that would charge extra when it was hotter?
(Score: 2, Troll) by crafoo on Wednesday February 09 2022, @01:04PM (5 children)
How entirely arrogant to believe that a buyer in a transaction should control how the seller decides to price their goods.
I can tell by your attitude you've never been a real producer your entire life.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by cmdrklarg on Wednesday February 09 2022, @02:21PM (1 child)
Buyers do exert some control over the seller's pricing; if it is priced too high buyers won't buy it. There is also haggling to consider.
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday February 09 2022, @06:41PM
Especially if the buyer is a particularly movated one [youtu.be].
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday February 09 2022, @02:46PM
Seriously? Price is always negotiable. Whether your customer is a private citizen or a major corporation, there is always haggling going on. If you can't make the deal sweet enough, you've lost the sale. The only real exceptions to that rule is government purchasing, with all the kickbacks and graft inherent in the military industrial complex.
(Score: 2) by Barenflimski on Wednesday February 09 2022, @03:57PM
I can tell by your attitude that you didn't even read what I wrote.
(Score: 2) by srobert on Wednesday February 09 2022, @03:58PM
Except of course in labor markets. There the buyer must have absolute control over the price of a man-hour of labor. It would be arrogant of the seller to think they should have any influence.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Reziac on Thursday February 10 2022, @03:30AM (1 child)
Amazon already somewhat does that. The price you're shown depends on how high the algorithm says they can push it, based on location and likelihood of buying. Log out and see different prices.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by Barenflimski on Thursday February 10 2022, @04:39AM
True. I bet they're not the only ones.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09 2022, @11:24AM (3 children)
A company that voluntarily disables telemetics? Sign me up. Bill Gates must be rolling over in his grave.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Ingar on Wednesday February 09 2022, @01:22PM
Voluntarily? They disabled telematics because they were obliged by law to give owners of the car access to it.
Maybe we should require the same from software vendors.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09 2022, @02:16PM
There is no proof telemetrics were actually disabled.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday February 09 2022, @03:08PM
Bill Gates' demise is greatly exaggerated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates [wikipedia.org]
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09 2022, @01:49PM
They got access to repair information in 2018.
The got freedom from car as a service in 2020.
Ugly for the manufacturers new revenue stream, but a good day for consumers.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Wednesday February 09 2022, @02:07PM (5 children)
Toyota uses a different tactic to prevent consumers from repairing their own cars: Require particular tools to do basic things like bleed the brakes properly, and then only sell those tools to their dealers.
Compared to "no automatic messages or remote start", not being able to fix your brakes seems like a bigger deal, just sayin'.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Informative) by VLM on Wednesday February 09 2022, @05:19PM (2 children)
I am somewhat familiar with this and own a Yaris.
I know about the pressure adapter situation and Toyota in general where "universal pressure bleed adapters" that work on like 90% of cars are maybe $25 and certain special models of Toyta/Lexus need the special shaped dedicated pressure bleeder cap but those are not "top secret toyota only" there's 3rd party options that unfortunately cost like $50. Then again whereas the universal pressure caps need lots of screwing around (pun) to fit, the toyota one snaps on and fits air tight perfectly in less than a second so you pays your money and takes your chances.
There is a side dish that technically if you're patient enough you don't need to pressure bleed you can have two people work together to do it the old fashioned way, and at the same time if you're impatient enough trying to pressure bleed will result in filling the lines with compressed air which is exactly what you're trying to avoid, instead of blowing the air out the bottom if you empty the master cylinder by impatiently blowing too much, you blow MORE air in at the top.
Supposedly there is a magic $1000 machine that only mechanics own that is like a robot brake bleeder but very few people use those. Maybe you mean that.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Wednesday February 09 2022, @08:14PM (1 child)
All I know for sure is that I had brake work done at a pretty reputable independent shop in my area who has done other good work on my car in the past, and they were unable to complete the job themselves and had to send it to the nearest dealer at extra expense to themselves because of this issue.
So I'll admit I'm not fully aware of the technical ins and outs involved, but there was definitely something up. It may make a difference that this was a Prius, so great gas mileage but a lot of specialized stuff involved in it.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday February 10 2022, @02:34PM
Same here in that I know for a fact about the whole custom pressure bleed cap because I'm probably going to have to buy one in the next couple years, but I donno maybe there are OTHER problems like maybe possibly the bleed valves at the brakes use some weird security bit instead of a boring old wrench. Would be hilariously "Toyota" if they invented a seven sided nut for brakes just to F with people.
I've done brake jobs on other cars but not on the Yaris because its too new, only 50K miles, and most of the time any old wrench is fine for brake bleeding but when I was a kid there was a chrysler that could only be bled using a wrench that was BOTH thin type AND stubby due to some suspension weirdness it was the only way to make it fit. You might have to special order a thin && stubby wrench anywhere other than a car parts store or maybe snapon, generic hardware store probably won't have it in stock.
Another Toyota novelty I recall is my wife's car had a fascinating air conditioner where toyota thought it would be funny to use the refrigerant as electrical coolant in direct contact with the wires (yes electric powered AC NOT a pully and clutch system like most cars and yes it drew a metric shitton of power, then again it worked really well until it didn't) so it required some weird high voltage dielectric oil that some shops simply did not want to deal with. Also any metal contamination shorted out the motor and any water contamination shorted out the motor so basically if it ever leaked, and all auto AC systems eventually leak, then it meant you had to buy a new electric motor. But I digress...
I would say generally Toyota does not shy away from doing weird and unusual things most of which work very well aside from being weird, but I don't recall them ever locking out 3rd parties intentionally. Unintentionally, sure.
(Score: 2) by epitaxial on Wednesday February 09 2022, @06:03PM (1 child)
Unless Toyota brakes are no longer hydraulic, what special tool would be needed to bleed them? Mercedes had some strange electronic braking systems for a while but were discontinued.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Joe Desertrat on Thursday February 10 2022, @01:36AM
It seems like all cars built now have special tools required to repair them. Maybe not a particular manufacturer created tool, but a far wider range of tools are needed than their used to be, that's for sure. It used to be that having a good set of socket wrenches and a few screwdrivers was enough for any repair (my first car, a '66 Belair, I swear I only needed spark plug wrench, 1/2 inch and 9/16 inch wrenches, plus a flat and a Philips head screwdriver to fix anything on the car), now there are all sorts of sockets and whatnot needed, not to mention the electronic stuff. There's not any point any more in me opening my hood, I can't do anything, I would probably only hurt myself or the car if I tried.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by ElizabethGreene on Wednesday February 09 2022, @03:12PM
My guess is that access to telematics is 15% about right-to-repair and 85% about "OH CRAP They are going to see that their car has enough telemetry on it to make Microsoft blush."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Wednesday February 09 2022, @03:21PM (1 child)
Take what was once a feature built in to the vehicle, and turn it into a recurring paid service!
Do you need the steering wheel to work? That will be an additional $1.25 per month. Need brakes, that is $1.35 per month. Need the engine to start? etc, etc.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 4, Offtopic) by VLM on Wednesday February 09 2022, @05:23PM
This all started with the satellite radio and the built in GPS.
The salesperson seemed mildly annoyed all I wanted was a gasoline powered bluetooth speaker for my phone, and none of the already obsolete built in shit with its endless fees.
(Score: -1, Troll) by VLM on Wednesday February 09 2022, @05:37PM (2 children)
Yeah I bet.
Did not know those two went together. I was under the impression Subaru was the official lesbian car brand. If you google this is a real thing not a shitpost for the lolz, like it was an intentional company policy back in '16 or so. It would NOT be woke to point out their sales volume peaked the year before the targeted ad campaign, and sales have continuously declined since. Get woke go broke, lol.
There's nothing wrong with having an official car brand for lesbians, in fact its kind of cool they got their own thing, I just think its funny that the businessmen clearly planned their campaign believing Pr0nhub.com viewing statistics reflect reality, whereas WRT actual sales there seem to be somewhat fewer car buying lesbians than they seemed to optimistically think there were. You know out of touch businessmen, right now there's probably some clothes dryer mfgr planning the marketing campaign for the "step-sis" model based on pr0nhub viewing stats, and then they'll get all surprised at the actual low sales figures.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 10 2022, @12:30AM (1 child)
I didn't know Colin McRae was a lesbian! You learn something new every day...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 10 2022, @12:51AM
Not to mention VLM! Thought s/he was just a racist.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09 2022, @05:54PM
what? no emergency assistance? isn't that like a non-uv-fading sticker with a telephone number you can dial with the smart pants phone?
shhesh, let's hope the guy with the skynet shutdown codes memorized doesn't drive a ... oh wait.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 09 2022, @07:12PM (1 child)
So I'm never buying a car with telematics and if I am so unlucky ripping the modules out. They can stuff all those "connected" features where the sun doesn't shine.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Thursday February 10 2022, @03:55PM
Then a new car is off your radar.
A new car was off my radar too. Six years ago.
I ended up getting an older vehicle. Craigslist. Yes, the 25 year old machine needed some TLC, new almost everything.
I paid 4K$ for the machine, and so far around 12K$ for fixings as well as my time. And now have a pretty useful machine.
While it won't impress people who prefer new-shiny, it fits my needs to a tee. It's very reliable, cheap to run, runs on Arco / Neste "renewable diesel" biofuel , rated 1 ton load.
Completely mechanical old-school compression engine made by International Harvester. Beautiful design. Wish they still made these things.
It's definitely not a zoom-zoom by any stretch of the imagination. To me, it's a beast. More like an ox or hippopotamus, if I were to badge it with it's animal style.
It has bumpers. Real good bumpers. So if someone else decides to ram me in the rear again, they won't do near as much damage next time. The tow hitch should discourage tailgaters. Unless they have a Mack truck.
I have had this beast for six years now. And love this thing more and more as I compare it to what I see in the show room these days. Actually, the only high tech things I have seen fit to install is a dashcam, a built in cellphone whose primary use is a GPS tracker ( F-Droid Finder ), and a Bluetooth speaker.
Later, I will install Arduino in it . And new upholstery.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bloodnok on Thursday February 10 2022, @01:21AM
Isn't the point that Subaru have disabled features that some customers want because they are being assholes about the customers right to repair, and right to see the data that is being collected on them.
This is not about whether those features are useful or desirable, but about screwing over the customer. If they are not prepared to let you have data they have collected about you, your activities, and your property, then they are being at best very shady. Disabling features rather than conforming with legislation passed by a democratic assembly is not the behaviour of a responsible customer-centered organisation.
I *am* a Subaru owner and I have left a complaint with them explaining that in spite of more than 20 years as a satisfied customer, my next vehicle will not be a Subaru because of this. This was a few days ago and so far I've heard nothing.
When a company treats its customers like shit, I shop elsewhere.
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The major
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 10 2022, @08:06PM
Who is Chie Ferrelli and WTF should I care what she or he loved?
What does Chie Ferrelli have to do with technology?
Why isn't it just "Subaru did this and that in some states"?
If I want to read a love story, I'll buy a bloody novel.