jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I've said many times that I don't like subscription services. Toyota will be charging a subscription fee of $8.00/month or $80/year for you to continue using your remote key fob. I know that covers remote start, but I'm not sure about keyless entry, etc. This will begin with 2018 Toyotas. The 2018s have been given free key fob service for three years. If they want that service to continue, they will have to start paying. I think heated seats might be included, too. You paid a lot extra to have those heated seats, but now you have to pay more to use them.

Toyota is not alone. Mercedes has also been experimenting with subscription plans. Theoretically, car makers could put anything, even the engine, on a subscription plan. "But it's only $8.00 a month!" Sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLlzAv2GTdc&t=399s

I think subscription plans are just beginning to get started. We're doomed.

Pumble

Albeit first, this has nothing to do with a photography forum. Second, don't put much reliance on youtube videos, they're uninformed and misleading. You do realize you lined this guy's pocket by watching, right?

The notions in the video are simply nuts. It's fake news. Toyota cannot charge for use of the keyfob that has no tie to any Toyota service. How in heaven's name would they control your seat heater if you didn't pay? It's just silly and he's probably a guy that in 1999 also said your Mr. Coffee would not work at Y2K...

Toyota has announced the trial period for their internet based service called Remote Connect is over. The Remote Connect app allows you to use your phone to remote start the car just like a keyfob the same as GM already has with MyChevy App. Up to now, Remote Connect has been a remote trial. But subscriptions are already here, I'm sure you've heard of GM's Onstar, Adobe (Acrobat, Lightroom and Photoshop), Microsoft Office 365, your monthly cell phone, or any other manufacturer that offers a service over the net.

The solution - don't use the Remote Connect service, buy a car with no remote start and stop watching fake news youtube politics ...

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

This is the General Chit-Chat (non-photography talk) section of the forum, exactly where this post belongs.

pmorin Loc: Huntington Beach, Palm Springs

As already mentioned, this is the chit chat section. Non photography posts are encouraged. Secondly, I too read an article about Jerry’s comment and he is correct. Perhaps a little research would have been appropriate before commenting.
Edit. Link to article added. https://www.autoblog.com/2021/12/13/toyota-remote-start-subscription-key-fob/

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Did you miss the title of this section. Just in case you did, it's General Chit-Chat (non-photography talk).
--Bob

Stash Loc: South Central Massachusetts

This is the general Chit-Chat section so just about anything can be posted photography related or not.

skipwv Loc: West Virginia

Indeed!

junglejim1949 Loc: Sacramento,CA

This is so wrong! Greed rears it's ugly head again.

LDB415 Loc: Houston south suburb

Many automakers have remote systems/services that work with a cellphone app and they charge for them after giving a 1-3 year free trial to get you hooked on using them. Toyota is the first I've heard of charging for something connected with the keyfob. That usually only has a line of sight range. That seems a bit of a stretch but anything to make a buck as they say.

Country Boy Loc: Beckley, WV

Thanks Jerry for posting this. I knew they were looking at this but had no idea it was accepted and coming.

Guyserman Loc: Benton, AR

My key fob (2019 RAV4) has buttons for Alarm, Lock, Unlock,.and Tail Gate Operation. There is no button for remote start and I have had no communication from Toyota. This is much Ado about nothing.

alexol

Clearly you didn't have remote start in the first place so this doesn't apply to you.

It isn't a new subscription idea, just that certain Toyota owners will now have to pay for something they agreed to originally (probably buried somewhere in the small print in the purchasing agreement) which was a free trial which will no longer be free.

Similarly, my vehicle came with a 6 month trial subscription to Sirius/XM.

There's no obligation to take up the subscription but it will surely annoy a few people who will lose a capability they had incorrectly assumed was part of the vehicle package.

junglejim1949 Loc: Sacramento,CA

Deceptive practice... shame in them

JBRIII

Does the remote start go thru the internet to Toyota? If so, then while it may be cheap on their part to charge, they are maintaining some database, service, etc. for it to work? While car prices are up, as many have noted, lots are empty. Recently traded a Suburu for another one, had to wait a month+ for new one to come in. Told they get maybe 4-5 a month versus 5-10 a week previously. So, if total revenues are down, they are going to be looking somewhere for extra cash.

Toyota just replaced the entire frame on my 2011 truck for corrosion my local place could not even find. So, they do somethings well.

alexol

Not sure it's deceptive but it will certainly be unpopular as most people who signed up for a trial - probably not really thinking about it - will now be disappointed or (unjustifiably IMO) angry about it.

If someone signs docs without reading them, they qualify as being some sort of idiot.

That's one of the reasons software agreements are so long (UELAs) - so that no one will read them.

I think many people would be shocked to discover how.many things they think they own that they are effectively renting, meaning subscriptions or services for fee.