4 ms·
Ford files patent to disable car functions for missed payments
- TheLoafOfBread 4y agoPay 0.1BTC or you are not going anywhere. Your local ransomware team.
- hulitu 4y agoMessage in dashboard: "Unfortunately you haven't paid your last rate. The break will now be disabled. Thank you for choosing Ford."
- viggity 4y agoI know most HNers probably haaaate this idea. The upside is that lower repossession costs lower the risk and make goods available to lower wage income workers.
- rolenthedeep 4y agoImagine seriously believing that savings will actually "trickle down" to consumers. They'll charge a premium for these features.
- polishdude20 4y agoParenting this is the best thing they can be doing for the consumer. Prevent other car companies from including this scummy feature. Now I just need to think "not Ford" when I go buy a car and I'm all good.
- lockhouse 4y agoI don’t like it for the security aspects of it. If it can be done remotely, someone other than Ford can do it. However, I think it is ethically okay otherwise. If you don’t fully pay for something you don’t own it and it’s still the property of whoever holds the loan on it.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- alejohausner 4y agoOn the other hand, licensing this patent to other auto makers could become a great source of revenue for Ford. I'm sure all auto makers would implement the feature. You won't be able to avoid it.
- rkagerer 4y agoIs it so different from SaaS software that locks you out when your credit card renewal fails? (To be clear I'm not a fan of either).
- dattmavis 4y agoI would say there are significant differences. You're not paying towards ownership of a SaaS site. You're paying a monthly subscription fee. If you're 34 months into a Dropbox subscription you don't own anything. If you're 34 months into your car payments you might have thousands in equity in the car. Even getting outside of the ethics -- Lots of cities in the US are also automobile-dependent and turning off someone's car seems counter-productive. We definitely need to push back on these types of controls aggressively, including advocating for consumer protections.
- rkagerer 4y agoThat's a really good point, thanks for enlightening me.