Volkswagen locks extra speed behind subscription: microtransactions for cars

[VectorVortec]

In America, this would probably be a class action suit for fraudulent advertising unless they put the subscription price in the ad. Judging by the comments on this page, either judge or jury would rule in favor of the plaintiffs, and punitive damages might be in order.

 

[nitebird]

And what is the extra lifetime cost of the bhp due to insurance even if you never buy the subscription? Sounds like you're gonna pay extra for insurance from this article, for features you can't use.

 

[Gravitytr1]

Yeah, and I'm sure it'll get jailbroken pretty quickly.

Not that I'd get a car that has enough electronics to do something like this at this point...

In many locales, it's illegal to break DRM.

See, they fool people with a ton of propaganda and then complacency because it's just games, but then all of a sudden its Adobe subs Office 365 and DRM fridges

 

[jeffbert]

Anybody remember those 5.25" floppy disks? eventually the manufacturers made only the double density disks, but sold them as standard ones because there was a notch missing from the flexible plastic jacket. Use a tool to cut a notch in the right place, & then it is double density for the price of single.

Seems similar to me.

 

[WaphleStomp]

Anybody remember those 5.25" floppy disks? eventually the manufacturers made only the double density disks, but sold them as standard ones because there was a notch missing from the flexible plastic jacket. Use a tool to cut a notch in the right place, & then it is double density for the price of single.

Seems similar to me.

I still have some with programs I wrote back in the early and mid '80s. I used to use a single-hole punch to notch them, a few times I (carefully) used one hole from a 3-hole punch.

 

[jeffbert]

I still have some with programs I wrote back in the early and mid '80s. I used to use a single-hole punch to notch them, a few times I (carefully) used one hole from a 3-hole punch.

It seems the same thing as the cars having features that are installed, but unusable until paid to activate.