NJ Slows Car Subscription Ambitions

A subscription for features in your car is one of the worst "you don't really own it" ideas of the modern subscription-heavy world we live in. I've previously written about how horrible of an idea this is. Now, New Jersey is doing something about it. Jonathan Gitlin at Ars Technica has more.

In late September, Assemblymen Paul Moriarty and Joe Danielsen introduced a bill that would prohibit car makers or dealers from offering subscriptions in New Jersey for any feature that uses hardware already installed on the vehicle at the time of purchase unless that feature would represent an ongoing expense to the dealer, manufacturer, or a third party.

Ars Technica

I can understand that if you have a service like OnStar or satellite radio, a subscription to that service is a reasonable expectation. But paying an ongoing monthly fee for remote start or heated seats when the hardware is already in the car is awful. People will learn to "jailbreak" their cars if moronic stuff like this becomes the norm. Services that cost money because of how they're set up? Fine. Services to keep a seat warm that was a one-time cost to install when the car was built? Get outta here with that nonsense.