It’s built into the fucking car. You already paid them the money it cost to put there. Why would you think giving them more money just so they can flip a switch allowing you access to the hardware you already paid for is a good idea, or even remotely acceptable?
I’d guarantee that they’re already doing that now anyway. If you buy a new car but don’t choose the heated seats optional extra, the seats will still have the capability, just that they won’t enable it. This has been going on for decades; I recall an old Peugot 405 my parents had when I was young, there were various placeholder areas on the console where some switches would have bee on the more expensive models. All the wiring would be there, but just no phsyical switch on the console. They’ll standardise as much as possible to make the production process as simple and cheap as possible.
I can see the appeal from a potential customers point of view as you don’t need to stress about picking the wrong options and later regretting it.
A place to put a switch and wiring harness having a couple extra wires doesn’t mean they put the parts in to make it functional. A standardized console and wiring harness is logical because it’s cheaper, installing heated seats or 4x4 drive tran is not. The vehicle usually doesn’t get part for the options installed until it’s ordered so it doesn’t make sense to make a unique part or wire harness for a small percentage of vehicles. The subscription based model just proves how effective and profitable it is, just a portion of car owners paying for it will make them enough money to justify putting it in every vehicle.
Heated seats probably costs them around a few hundred dollars a seat and if you pay a subscription for the life of the car then they will make tens of thousands back.
It’s built into the fucking car. You already paid them the money it cost to put there. Why would you think giving them more money just so they can flip a switch allowing you access to the hardware you already paid for is a good idea, or even remotely acceptable?
I’d guarantee that they’re already doing that now anyway. If you buy a new car but don’t choose the heated seats optional extra, the seats will still have the capability, just that they won’t enable it. This has been going on for decades; I recall an old Peugot 405 my parents had when I was young, there were various placeholder areas on the console where some switches would have bee on the more expensive models. All the wiring would be there, but just no phsyical switch on the console. They’ll standardise as much as possible to make the production process as simple and cheap as possible.
I can see the appeal from a potential customers point of view as you don’t need to stress about picking the wrong options and later regretting it.
A place to put a switch and wiring harness having a couple extra wires doesn’t mean they put the parts in to make it functional. A standardized console and wiring harness is logical because it’s cheaper, installing heated seats or 4x4 drive tran is not. The vehicle usually doesn’t get part for the options installed until it’s ordered so it doesn’t make sense to make a unique part or wire harness for a small percentage of vehicles. The subscription based model just proves how effective and profitable it is, just a portion of car owners paying for it will make them enough money to justify putting it in every vehicle.
Heated seats probably costs them around a few hundred dollars a seat and if you pay a subscription for the life of the car then they will make tens of thousands back.