A Ford patent would start disabling car functions if an owner misses payments and could eventually even drive it away to be repossessed.

… a Ford patent application titled “Systems and Methods to Repossess a Vehicle” was published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Feb. 23, although it was submitted to the agency Aug. 20, 2021.

The document describes using vehicles’ built-in data connections to remotely disable “a functionality of one or more components of the vehicle,” which would serve as warnings if the owner has missed car payments.

  • godsammitdam@lemmy.zipEnglish
    1·
    7 minutes ago

    Learning from Sony I see. You don’t own what you buy. It’s just an extended rental. Remember when this (below) was a joke a decade ago? Feels inevitable now. You’ll have to pay per passenger before you can start your ignition because your rental purchase only included your self, not your passengers. Subscribe now with my code FordSucksUDry and you’ll get 1 free passenger with each month.

  • _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    4·
    2 hours ago

    This kind of crazy shit is why my car is manual and has no connectivity except for an FM radio and an OBD port. Also, my other car is bikes.

    Anyone remember Stelantis making cars that play you God damned ads when you stop? Yeah…

    • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.netEnglish
      10·
      6 hours ago

      It shouldn’t be but if this makes it harder for other companies to do this, it would be kinda funny lol

  • WhiteOakBayou@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    5 hours ago

    I’m in the middle of driving a 2026 rental car for two weeks and it has a huge screen for maps, lane keep, adaptive cruise and all that. I hate the screen but like the other new features. The car still runs when it doesn’t have cell service. I wonder if I could just open the dash, sever a connection for the SIM card and it still all work or if I would have to pass some voltage through where the sim is supposed to be to keep the ECU from detecting a fault? I can find wiring diagrams online but they don’t list anything that seems gps or cellular sounding.

    • grue@lemmy.worldMEnglish
      4·
      3 hours ago

      Neither am I, but remember that that’s only a workaround, not a solution. The only actual solution to this shit is political.

    • queerlilhayseed@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      6·
      5 hours ago

      We need to break the integration between hardware and software. If a machine can run software, then the software must be owner-auditable and owner-replaceable. If it’s not, then whoever owns the software will own the hardware forever.

      We also need safe, reliable, standard software for machines, and we need laws that enforce that machines be compatible with standard software before they can be sold.

      It’s a tall order, but I think the only other option is to continue down the path of hardware with corporate-dictated expiration dates and built-in surveillance.