What happens when Ford stops supporting our connected services?

[Mach1E]

And I absolutely get it from their perspective, but of course I buy cars from my perspective.

And lack of tech support is just one in a list of long reasons a 10+ yr old BEV is going to be super cheap.

You can get a used Nissan leaf for the price of an average bicycle these days.

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[ChehRob]

I suspect that there will be limited support for as long as the car is drivable. I am not opposed to month fees but Ford’s are t expensive

 

[khbkhb]

Predicting the future is hard :>. We still have a 2012 Mazda CX9, the native navigation still works, but hasn’t had a map update in years (we possibly could have purchased media updates). I have no doubt that Ford could abandon the current navigation and it would continue to work, just not be updated for years to come.

As others have noted, the upside of “pay for use” is that it provides the vendor with at least a modest revenue stream to pay for maintenance (as a former sw developer, I know such things aren’t free, especially the QA aspects) but can be done on a shoestring for older vehicles (adding new features can be pricey, updating a map and adapting to new DST and such generally pretty cheap) so I’m cautiously optimistic that the cars won’t be bricked by future Ford choices.

We used to have an older LEAF, and Nissan did abandon them (relied on the 2G standard, if memory serves). The car was still drivable, but none of the “connected features” were usable (although we still got alerts that data would be transmitted ;>). Why anyone in the auto industry thought it was a good idea to integrate the networking/modem with anything else (rather than a completely replacable and upgradable component) is beyond me.

But as others noted, we’ll still have WiFi. Chances are that will work for the life of the car.

 

[MetalCord]

Ford is already locking out the ability to adjust charge level and set departure times in the app unless you share all of your driving data with them and their "partners" (seat belt usage, acceleration, braking, etc ..). Seems pretty simple next step to make it a pay feature.

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/fordpass-app-is-now-the-“ford-app”-version-6-0.49859/post-1032625

Some automakers are doing it so of course they COULD make it a pay feature. It's likely not a matter of "if" but "when". However, I'd bet before Ford goes all-in on the pay features, they're going to watch Toyota and GM very carefully to see how customers respond. They (the companies) will chase all the money the think they can get from us. We pay subscriptions for basically everything nowadays so I'm sure some asshole finance guy at these companies was like "WHY NOT A/C IN YOUR CAR?" We have the power to stop it by voting with our dollars. Will we tell them to knock that shit off or will we acquiesce and pay extra for the new shiny thing? I'm not optimistic.

 

[bbulkow]

I suppose this is an issue for pretty much any modern car, but what happens when Ford decides that it no longer wants to put resources towards updating and maintaining the connected services that are available on the Mach E? I get that the infotainment screens that don't require services would continue to function as they do today, but my car constantly has the little icon at the top showing that it's communicating with some services and I'm one of those weirdos who prefers the built-in nav. I'm sure the day will also come when Apple or Google decides that they want to update the requirements for CarPlay and Android Auto and our Mach E's will no longer support it. Just the world we live in now, but it makes me sad to think that people could be getting rid of vehicles that are good for hundreds of thousands more miles just because they can't use a lot of the infotainment features. A phone is one thing, but a car?! Maybe there third-parties will step up and provide upgrades?

I'm not sure which "connected services" you have in mind.

If you mean the internet access point, or you mean the nav, which I think are part of the "connected services" paid package, I couldn't care much less. I don't use either.

If you mean support for Android Auto, it works now, it should work for a very long time. My 2017 CRV has Android Auto, it's never been updated, and it works equally as well as the MachE.

This is one of the reasons I love so much AA / CP. The fail would happen if android dropped Android Auto, or Google Maps dropped android auto. I'm willing to bet that won't happen.

If it does.... I'll be back to paper maps and a boom box (or FM radio). I lived that way before, I can live that way again.

 

[cooltatts]

The bigger issue isn’t Ford not supporting connected services. It’ll be when the cellular companies stop supporting 4G LTE. That’ll affect MY21-24.

That’s when it’ll be a pain to lose access to nearly all connected services and rely on dealer installed updates. That’ll likely happen by 2030.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

And lack of tech support is just one in a list of long reasons a 10+ yr old BEV is going to be super cheap.

You can get a used Nissan leaf for the price of an average bicycle these days.

People buy them out here to use as batteries in their off grid houses. Park the Leaf, build a small shed around it and wire into a PVE system. Cheaper than dedicated PVE batteries such as Tesla’s PowerWall.

 

[Mach1E]

People buy them out here to use as batteries in their off grid houses. Park the Leaf, told a small shed around it and wire into a PVE system. Cheaper than dedicated PVE batteries such as Tesla’s PowerWall.

I was thinking about buying a couple of used Leafs to use as cell phone chargers. Maybe a 3rd that could double as a storage shed.

 

[YunniorO]

I wonder how much Ford makes off of all of the different subscription services they offer. I pay $80/year for nav and $10/month for connected services. When I need it, I'll pay the $50 for a month of BC. Wouldn't it only help them to keep supporting these subscriptions and making them something owners want to pay for? Otherwise they make nothing until I go buy a new car from them, which I probably won't because I typically buy used.

It still irritates me I have to pay for navigation just so I can precondition on the way to a charger.

 

[ChrisO]

It still irritates me I have to pay for navigation just so I can precondition on the way to a charger.

It is certainly a basic functionality it, shouldn’t be something controlled by a subscription.
And from what I understand using Android Auto won’t work either.

I don’t drive in cold conditions or even take long trips very often so it doesn’t really effect me, but it doesn’t seem right to me.

 

[DarkHorseRunning]

It seems a few of the manufacturers don’t seem to understand (or don’t care) of why Android Auto is so important to people. Sure if you only plan to keep a car for a few years it isn’t a big deal but if you keep cars for a long time it becomes a big issue to worry about. I will note that Ford sells a 7 year subscription for both BlueCruise and Premium connection services, so they do plan to support it for that long.

More likely planned obsolescence. With the potential for an EV to last 200-250K miles with minimal maintenance costs, the manufacturers will look for additional ways to get people to buy more new cars.

 

[Snakebitten]

Why would any for-profit company continue to pay staff for updating maps for free?

 

[ChrisO]

Why would any for-profit company continue to pay staff for updating maps for free?

In reality they don't. There is no way Ford is doing the mapping software, that is a third party. But your point is very valid, it is a cost to them that they need to pass on and should also make a profit on.

I personally have nothing wrong with that. I wouldn't even mind paying for a subscription.

But here is my real concern. What happens when the car gets so old that they refuse to continue that subscription?

At least there is a chance that Android Auto might last longer than that.

But in truth for people that need it there is even a more glaring problem. Both Ford and GM tie the battery conditioning for fast charging to the navigation system. And that even includes Android Auto. So, if it gets to a point where you can't/don't have the built-in navigation system subscription active, no more fast charging pre-conditioning.

 

[AZBill]

Chevy has already announced that they are removing CarPlay and AndroidAuto from all their cars in the next few years. Why? So they can force you into services they can charge you for.

Actually, GM allows you to connect to your phone's Wi-Fi hotspot, so you are not forced to subscribe, except for SuperCruise.

 

[Space_Pony]

It still irritates me I have to pay for navigation just so I can precondition on the way to a charger.

I thought you could do that with Android Auto/Google Maps.

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