I recently read an article about Fords new patent application that details omnious ways Ford's could repossess vehicles that were late on their car payments! The patent goes into detail about the methods it would use to encourage timely payment and ultimatly repossession... and while I do agree that people should have to make their car payments, the methods and logic that Ford's has shown in the patent make you realize that Fords spends a lot of time engineering methods they feel will annoy it's delinquent customers... It brings to light one of Fords other more famous tactic, "obsolescence methods"
In the article Fords is observed theorizing degrading the user experence of their vehicles by turning off features like the Air Conditioning, remote lock and unlock features, and even going so far as to play an audible sound thru the stereo system that is known to be annoying!
Just think about that for a moment! If Fords is trying to figure out a way to degrade the system of a BRAND NEW CAR, just think what their engineers are thinking when it comes time to build a quality vehicle that could be serviced and maintained beyond the warranty! The chances are great, given these public revelations, that Ford's spends a GREAT DEAL OF TIME thinking of ways to incorporate annoyances that force the owner of an old vehicle to just purchase a new one! The name for this is "engineered obsoletion" and it's not just limited to cars! It's in almost EVERYTHING manufactured today!
So let us just think about this for a moment... You are buying a brand new and overpriced vehicle, often times so technically advanced that not even Ford quite understands it (See Ford's DPS6 Transmission for an example)... Said person has a little trouble, be it medical (perhaps pregnancy), or perhaps even Ford's themselves holding the car for warranty work for MONTHS on end... either way said buyer is now finanicaly in a pinch and they run a week or even a month late on their payment... enter Ford's who will shut off their Air Conditioning, prevent remote key fob usage and even annoy the buyer with a sound played over their vehicles stereo! So what happens when the buyer eventually catches up on the payments? How does Fords reimburse the buyer for the annoyances and lack of features? Because a LOT of people who buy vehicles do catch back up on their payments...
This patent from Fords, which is public record - dives DEEP into the mindset of Ford Motor Company... a company SO CHEAP it has abrevated it's name to FoMoCo to save on ink and letters.
I should mention that I DO NOT have ANY car payments, nor have I EVER purchased a car brand new... what I seen in Fords recent patent will ensure that I NEVER buy another Ford for my personal vehicle... new or used, does not matter! As a mechanic I see what they do to their customers with their engineered obsoletion on a daily basis! Now you're telling me they are figuring out ways to make brand new cars obsolete? No thank you Fords!
The patent described steps to trigger if an owner ignores overdue notices, starting with those meant to cause an additional level of discomfort to a driver and occupants of the vehicle by disabling nice-to-have features like air conditioner, remote key fobs, and the automated door lock-and-unlock system.
Another step described in the remote-repo patent application included prompting the cars audio system to emit an incessant and unpleasant sound every time the owner is present in the vehicle.
Ford may-well-be Beta testing a method to screw their customers over with...
Since Ford are acting as a bank, court, & prosecution here, they should better check-out the customers repayment ability before selling them the car in the first place...
This is the same as what Microsoft does with computers & phones, where-by you own the plastic, they own the software that runs-the-show.
One wonders how long it would take & cost a customer if the said A/C unit / compressor took-a-dump via natural causes !
New cars are shyte, keep away...Spyware gone crazy imo.
*The old 560SEC starts to look more & more appealing imo !
-- Edited by Rastus on Sunday 5th of March 2023 05:26:27 PM
__________________
"Only an alert & knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial & military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods & goals, so that security & liberty may prosper together". Dwight D.Eisenhower.
It's an interesting thing to be sure. I'm curious whether such a feature would only be activated on vehicles financed with Ford Credit, or if a private bank could also petition Ford to activate such a feature should one of their customers miss a payment.
Another thing I wonder is if the dealer scan tool could reset such a feature, or if this is an over the air command that only the mother ship can turn off. Ford has been implementing over the air software updates so that's probably how they would do this too. Even the dealer probably wouldn't be able to turn this feature off.
Ford may-well-be Beta testing a method to screw their customers over with...
Since Ford are acting as a bank, court, & prosecution here, they should better check-out the customers repayment ability before selling them the car in the first place...
It does sux Rastus! Because just like Twitter under Elon Musk, once he started looking for a monthly subsciption fee it wasn't but a few months before Instagram and Facebook followed suit and rolled out their own subscription service!
So let's think about that for a minute, "subscription based service"... this means you can't buy something outright, rather it requires a constant recurring fee to use... in most cases a "monthly fee", or a reduced price one year (12 month) option in most cases! This ensures that anything you have ever done, or plan to do keeps you locked in! You don't want to pay? No more access to your data... and the same here in this case! You don't want to pay? We will turn your car off and have it drive itself to a reposession facility!
But here is the thing, Fords knows they make a small fortune on late fee's! How can Fords charge anyone a late fee if they are going to cut off things like air conditioning? And here is another thing, lets say someone is down to their last year on car payments... How much you want to bet Fords would repossess the vehicle the very second that payment was late, AND ask for a late fee!? Because Ford had already made all their money and the buyer was equity positive, getting the car - or the cost for repossession, would just be gravy! And Fords would happily abuse this!
Ford's isn't the only one in on this game Rastus! Haven't you read about how BMW plans to make things like AC, Power Seats and all the other creature comforts subscription based! That means every BMW would roll off the line "loaded"... but what gets turned on, or able to be used is dictated by what monthly charges you were willing to pay! You could have the car paid off, but have to make montly payments just to use things like AC, cruise control and other things - sunroof included! Oh you don't want to pay $5 a month for that sunroof? We will just keep it closed so you can't use it... and if you do decide you want to use it, just pay us the $5 a month! LOL, I'm not even kidding! Look it up!
It's an interesting thing to be sure. I'm curious whether such a feature would only be activated on vehicles financed with Ford Credit, or if a private bank could also petition Ford to activate such a feature should one of their customers miss a payment.
Another thing I wonder is if the dealer scan tool could reset such a feature, or if this is an over the air command that only the mother ship can turn off. Ford has been implementing over the air software updates so that's probably how they would do this too. Even the dealer probably wouldn't be able to turn this feature off.
I voted yes btw.
Yes I know you did PowerStroker... I was making some spelling corrections when I seen it had two "yes" votes... I checked to see who was online in the last five minutes (thread was only 5 minutes old) and it was you.
I can assure you the entire thing would be controlled from the Ford mother ship... Probably from right here in Detroit or Dearborn! Obviously Ford Motor Credit would be juiced in, but I'm positive the feature would be sublet to banks and lenders who would get a special line to call and talk with a special department at Fords who would execute the command, for a hefty FEE of course LOL! But banks and lenders would be more than happy to pay it! Especially if the buyer was equity positive on the note!
This isn't all Ford's fault... Our Federal and State Government regulatory bodies all seem to have gotten to the point where they work for manufactures, and not the people anymore! Sure, I'm a little sore about Fords DPS6 transmission! But let's look at it on the whole, anymore any automotive manufacture seems to wield a State or Federal agency a lot like a regulatory body allows for utility companies to opperate regulated monopolies! Take Tesla for example, there is currently NO FEDERAL REQUIREMENT for any sort of computer access like with an ICE vehicle (aka OBD-II)... Tesla does not have to offer ANY access to their systems for diagnosis because it's an "electric" non-emissions vehicle. They can legally LOCK the mechanic out! And let's not forget who made the "Over-The-Air" commands popular, it was Tesla! And who gets away with bloody murder for faulty self-drive technoligy? Again, Tesla! The writing is on the wall, and it's not looking good PowerStroker!
We have to look at the numbers... how much is Ford's making in late fee's? I bet it's a whole lot! I bet they make even more money on people who pay the repossession fee's to get their cars back too! And Ford's knows they already got obsoletion built into the car, so they wan't it back before it gets a bunch of miles on it!
The technology here is fast evolving and changing that regulators can't keep up! But we both know that is BS! The regulators could keep up, but they are being bribed to sit on their hands! I have been a Biden fan since he gave the company a hand up, but I worry nothing is being done to protect the buyers and aftermarket from these preditory practices! We might well have a network of superchargers built out, but what about a network of local repair shops? I mean for gawds sake PowerStroker, Tesla doesn't even have a delearship in Michigan the last I checked! And how can a used car department sell a traded in Tesla if all the features have been turned off? Say Ford's takes in a Tesla Model S on a new Ford Lightning, but then Tesla catches wind and shuts off the "ludicrous mode", or turns off all the features for self-drive and even Air Conditioning? I say that would be pretty ironic... even poetic justice given the article we are talking about! LOL
Something has to be done... the Federal Government should pay us millions of dollars to protect the people and crawl up the manufactures asses to come up with some new laws! It's clear nothing has been done in this arena since the mid 1990's OBD-II mandate!
Once again however, I'd be more concerned about the inbuilt spyware, that can automatically cause a shut-down via wi-fi that has not been initiated by the owner, than any secondary monetary concerns...
New purchasers better read the "fine print" very carefully lol !
-- Edited by Rastus on Sunday 5th of March 2023 11:51:41 PM
__________________
"Only an alert & knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial & military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods & goals, so that security & liberty may prosper together". Dwight D.Eisenhower.
Said "in-built" spyware has been a part of most all On-Star and other every day devices such as our phones and now days our watches!
It seem's were all paying to be spied on to some degree... regardless if it's outright evesdropping, or just the metrics of our use and or habits... even without identifiable information this sort of data collection is big money!
Reading the fine print on a new care lease or car loan now days would be pretty hard... I think it's like four pages with each page being almost three feet long! At least it was at a lease signing I was at back in 2022 (not my lease).
Said "in-built" spyware has been a part of most all On-Star and other every day devices such as our phones and now days our watches!
It seem's were all paying to be spied on to some degree... regardless if it's outright evesdropping, or just the metrics of our use and or habits... even without identifiable information this sort of data collection is big money!
Reading the fine print on a new care lease or car loan now days would be pretty hard... I think it's like four pages with each page being almost three feet long! At least it was at a lease signing I was at back in 2022 (not my lease).
* And the issue going-on in court today, is how these mofo's sell your data to the highest bidder...
__________________
"Only an alert & knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial & military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods & goals, so that security & liberty may prosper together". Dwight D.Eisenhower.
