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Comment by alexanderchr | Hacker News Reader

But the fact that you paid for the heated seats upfront increases the value of the car when you resell it. Likely by more than what you saved by renting?

…or maybe that was your point?

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Indeed. BMW's argument to this is that all cars will have all equipment built in - it will all be unlockable by subscription. Want adaptive cruise control? $200 a year. Heated seats? $100 a year. Sport modes for the engine/transmission? $400 a year. etc etc etc.

It annoys me to no end because it means you are paying(in the cost of the car) to have all of this advanced tech in the car, but you can't use it without subscription. What if I get a modder to enable it anyway? Am I now a criminal? What about the environmental impact of lugging around hardware that you don't want or need, just in case you or the next owner wants it?

It's an interesting question. I bought the car. Ownership transferred to me. What if I decide to rewire some of the electronics and unlock heated seats or some other paid extra?

I imagine they will make an argument that while you own the hardware, you are breaking the terms and conditions of their software. You never paid them to unlock the heated seats in software. Of course that argument fails if you get it modded so there's an extra button on the side and it just provides power to the seats, bypassing the rest of the system. It's going to be a fun legislative challenge once someone inevitably brings it to court, I'm sure.

Then the next lines of defence will be warrantee negation, OEM parts locking, sensor/actuator distribution (like seat-thermo tied to airbag weight sensor), safety regulation either directly or through failed inspection scams.

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