Toyota Subscriptions worth $80 year?

N2 had a really illuminating post. I forget where it was though

 

About EDR info or Connected Services?

IMHO with the long ass development cycles and the size of the automaker ops, it is absolutely stupid to include any connected feature as the tech changes so much faster than an automotive platform. Of course, that isn't stopping them in the least, esp with garbage hardware.

 

If it's anything like Sirius/XM just call once a year and threaten to cancel, get offered the same service for a tenth the price, wash/rinse/repeat.

 

If they were going to do anything malicious with the information, you'd be screwed anyways. Over the air updates for the infotainment and such still exists, not to mention GPS. If you want to be slightly creeped out log into your google account and look at your location history. Toyota could GAF less where your truck is, they are datamining the parameters of the vehicle because its a HUGE wealth of information they can use in testing and product development. Where 10-15 years ago they would have had to have a fleet of test vehicles to collect data on, they now have actual real world data from every truck sold at their fingertips.

 

I have a 2019 that didn’t come with a remote start from the factory. I added the N2 Designs remote start with the smart phone module. You can see a gps location of the car, wether the doors or locked or not, and start or stop the car all via the app. After your first year with it there is a subscription you have to pay for if you wish to continue using the service. But it’s cheap, I believe it was $100 for 3 years. However I do think the remote start via the fob will still work without a subscription.

EDIT: I do believe the N2 Designs remote start with the smart phone module is a bit pricy. $438 before taxes and shipping to be exact. With the subscription after the first year it cost $538 for 4 years. Where if you pay for the subscription from Toyota at $80 a year you’d spend $320 in 4 years. It would only start to even out around 9 years. Spending $720 with Toyota for 9 years of service and $738 for 10 years with the smart phone module.

At those prices I would just pay Toyota. I use the remote start and enjoy having it. For a car that doesn’t have a factory remote start the N2 option is great. If you don’t get the smart phone module the cost is only $249 but you don’t have the app option, strictly key fob, but no subscription fees.

 

Not worth it for me

 

It's weird, but I do enjoy Google Timeline. I often use it to see routes and mark locations after wheeling.

I mostly gave up on the tracking tin-foil stuff after I got my first smartphone.

 

Yet it amazes me when my wife and I watch stuff like "First 48" and the killer took their cell phone then to dump a body. They have only been able to locate cell signals since the early 90's. Lol

 

I was excited before my first GPS phone when Gmaps could triangulate to 300m or something like that.

With the stuff that has been posted to YouTube and social media by the crims, it doesn't surprise me that murders are thinking about the obvious.

 

True. Im no criminal mastermind but I know if Im going to go to something sinister to leave my damned phone at home.

 

Sinister planning! FTW!

 

They aren't charging you for hardware, it's for software/service. But yeah.

I don't have remote start on the Tacoma, the wife does on her Exploder. We used it a few times, but the range (lack of) makes it useless at the times it would be the most useful. So the phone based remote start is appealing. However, if my $199 garage door openers can let me have a free phone app to open, close or check door status from anywhere in the world why can't Toyota?

 

It's not so much the subscription service since it's optional to subscribe. I don't like the key fob not working for vehicles equipped with remote start. Remote start could be the deciding factor for buying a TRD, with push to start.

The key fob not working is enough to steer me away from a TRD model.

Edit, I don't want any aftermarket alarms on my vehicle.

 

Great point!

I did the MyQ device. Even there, we were paid to use it after all the coupons and offers were done.

 

They're not charging you, but your home ISP is. If u had a really long Ethernet plugged into the taco, it'd be the same thing.


Also, they are charging u for hardware. Once the remote connect bs whatever it's called runs out, your key fob stops working

 

Yeah, but there is a lot more delivered by the ISP. It isn't just one or two features. Home internet service has been considered a public utility for a while now.


There are crazier automotive subscriptions from Cadillac, BMW, and others that are more central to the vehicle operation. Not a fan, but also never shopping them to start with.

 

Local radio stations have sold out and killed off a lot of variety which probably leans in Sirius favor.

 

So now that Im not ranting on my phone while standing at my lab bench, I'll try to articulate my line in the sand a little better.

You are absolutely correct and this is how I feel. I feel like solutions that could have been 100% hardware based were ported to the cloud for the sole purpose of charging a service. I'm not ok with that, especially when its being rolled out in the one piece of hardware that is usually the second-most expensive purchase a majority of us make. The remote start is the prime example, but the more I thought about it, the more the SOS button irks me too. What happens when you don't subscribe to Toyota's (Or Ford's or GM's) call center staff? Because here is what should happen - if you dont subscribe, the SOS button should act as a 911 quick-dial button instead. No cloud or paid operators needed, push the button, it dials through your phone. But it doesn't. In some cars it just becomes a dead, useless button. In other cars I have heard (unconfirmed) tales of the operator saying "let me temporarily reactivate your account so we can dispatch an ambulance." And somehow that just doesn't sit right with me.

 

Good point about the ISP connection to the door openers. So unless the phone is in the Tacoma...there is no connectivity and if you're in the Tacoma you don't need a remote start. OK, I get it. They can keep it.

My wife likes to say that I alternate between acting like I'm destitute and rich, because I'm the guy that will say Fuck that, I'm not paying $80/year to remote start my truck 2 or 3 times a year. Then buy a $500 pocket knife.

 

No. The 2020+ Tacos have a cellular device for the Connected Services BS, just like the OnStar and other similar stuff does / did.