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Comment by rachelbythebay | Hacker News Reader

Look out, they're about to screw everyone with a 2017, 2016, or older. They installed 3G-only cell stuff for the "phone home when the air bags pop" infrastructure, and it's being sunset in 2022. There seems to be no way to upgrade the telematics stuff to anything newer.

All of these cars are going to have shit resale value very soon now.

Paging class action lawyers... there's a big juicy target out here just waiting to be seized. Selling cars when you know it has technology that's already dated and won't last long enough? Then not providing a way to remedy it? Gold!

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I’m confused, so what functionality are you losing when this is sunset? Is a auto notify Lexus you had an accident super useful or more some data Lexus wanted more than anything else?

Unless I’m miss understanding something about the feature (very likely), I think there would be a lot of people that wouldn’t care and it wouldn’t hurt the resale value that much.

Like OnStar, it’s sold as a safety feature. You get in an accident and a rep calls you to make sure you’re okay, send a tow truck or what not.

Automatically summons various first responders if you crash and it can dial out.

Lets you locate the car. That means an insurance discount.

Tells you if it gets boosted while you're away from it.

All of that... gone.

There is very likely small print in the contract stating subject to cell coverage availability.

Also beyond warranty period IMO it's reasonable expectation the owner pays for any upgrades.

My 2012 Nissan LEAF had a similar problem because it has a 2G modem in the telematics unit. They sent out a flyer offering to update it (replace the unit) for $200 or so. I passed because I didn’t use the telematics services much.

Same thing happened when the analog cell system was shut down nation-wide. Lots of home alarm systems suddenly had no way to contact the monitoring company that people were paying $24.99 a month for.

I've got a similar problem with the navigation system in my Lexus - the last maps for the DVD-based system were published in 2015, and there won't be any more updates. I now know what it's like past the end of the sidewalk.[0]

For a vehicle as old as mine, technological obsolescence isn't really a concern - it will still start & run, the windows will go up & down, and I still have a real metal key. Will there be lawsuits around electronic modules not being available for newer cars? Probably. But I also expect that there will be small businesses that specialize in repairing these modules. There's one that repairs the Mark Levinson amplifiers [1] used in Lexus vehicles. $1500 + labor for a new one from the dealer, vs. $400 for a repaired one from them is pretty attractive.

[0] The underappreciated Shel Silverstein

[1] I believe most of the repairs are just replacing dead output transistors. Easy thru-hole soldering.

That’s great, I intentionally disabled telematics in mine.

Sounds like in going to be buying a cheap lexus soon.

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