this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2024
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Mazda recently surprised customers by requiring them to sign up for a subscription in order to keep certain services. Now, notable right-to-repair advocate Louis Rossmann is calling out the brand.

It’s important to clarify that there are two very different types of remote start we’re talking about here. The first type is the one many people are familiar with where you use the key fob to start the vehicle. The second method involves using another device like a smartphone to start the car. In the latter, connected services do the heavy lifting.

Transition to paid services

What is wild is that Mazda used to offer the first option on the fob. Now, it only offers the second kind, where one starts the car via phone through its connected services for a $10 monthly subscription, which comes to $120 a year. Rossmann points out that one individual, Brandon Rorthweiler, developed a workaround in 2023 to enable remote start without Mazda’s subscription fees.

However, according to Ars Technica, Mazda filed a DMCA takedown notice to kill that open-source project. The company claimed it contained code that violated “[Mazda’s] copyright ownership” and used “certain Mazda information, including proprietary API information.”

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[–] phoneymouse@lemmy.world 58 points 1 month ago (5 children)

There is no need for the internet to use remote start

[–] the_tab_key@lemmy.world 24 points 1 month ago

I just bought a new car and it has internet enabled remote start. The salesman touted the feature. My response: "oh so I can start the car in [one state] while I'm in [another state] so it's ready for me when I get back?" He didn't have a good response for that. Nice car, dumbass feature.

[–] SeemsNormal@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I use mine all the time. I have about a 1/4 mile walk to get to my car, I like to start it in winter to heat up, or summer to cool down before I get to it.

It’s a luxury, but one I enjoy.

[–] desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone 21 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Lora and other RF based communication protocols exist and are much better ideas than using the internet. If someone is starting their car they are probably less than a mile away and the benefits of having something that works regardless of cell towers probably outweigh the benefits of being able to use it through bunker doors and across the globe.

[–] frizop@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

add that an internet connected car is not something we want, we want our remotes which we already have to do this

[–] SeemsNormal@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I’m not familiar with Lora or other RF systems. Can they adjust temperatures too?

My other vehicle is from 1976… I love it and I love the ability for me to fix it without plugging a computer in.

Walking a 1/4 mile in cold wind to a warm car that’s already defrosted is pretty amazing though. And I’m vehemently against subscriptions where possible, so I get the hatred towards connected cars as well.

[–] desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 month ago

Lora is mostly intended for small packets of information (like sensors), temperature could be sent in base 1 and still be sendable over it.

[–] Death_Equity@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Maybe if you don't live where it gets cold or you work in an office within range of your car.

[–] kameecoding@lemmy.world -5 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Some people live in these tall things that are called, "not a single family house" and so starting the car from up there you would need some way to communicate to the car, keyfob ranges are limited.

[–] Soggy@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's a good thing we invented remote start at the same time as the car itself, I can't imagine the horror of only operating a motor vehicle I'm next to (let alone touching)

[–] kameecoding@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] Soggy@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Remote start of any kind is a luxury and it's wild to me that someone would defend internet car controls as any way important or even desirable. That's what I'm talking about. Physical keys work totally fine and add like two seconds of time to the process.

[–] kameecoding@lemmy.world -3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Remote start of any kind is a luxury

Who said it was not?

Physical keys work totally fine and add like two seconds of time to the process.

YOu know except for the fucking case I described where you don't live in a house so the keyfob might not reach so you need some other way to connect to the car to be able to remote start it.

it’s wild to me that someone would defend internet car controls as any way important or even desirable.

not my fault you struggle with social skills and can't relate to other people

[–] Croquette@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I mean, his point is still valid. Take the 2-3 mins it takes to go down and start the car.

We managed before so let's not pretend that wireless fob are necessary.

[–] kameecoding@lemmy.world -4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

And then what genius? Should I sit in the cold car or stand next to the cold car while it heats up?

The point of the remote start is to avoid this, are you all some brain damaged kind that doesn't understand user experience?

[–] pendingdeletion@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I agree with your entire premise on the usefulness of remote start for cold winters. I live in Canada, though I do not have remote start.

All that being said, I think it’s wild that you accuse others of lacking “social skills” while calling everyone “brain damaged” because they didn’t immediately agree with you.

[–] kameecoding@lemmy.world -2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I have low tolerance for fools who cannot understand something after it was explained 3 times.

[–] Croquette@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I live in Canada dickwad, I know what cold winters are, so cut your whining.

Remote start is a great QoL, and that's why scummy companies hide it behind a paywall.

If enough people pay for the subscription, companies will keep doing it.

So the first step is push back and stop buying from companies that does that.

Second step is to not pay for the subscription when all the companies will be doing it, because let's be real, all car manufacturers will follow suit.

So you will have to either stay in your car, which sucks, or find a workaround like a second key or , in my case, a code on the door.

It will inconvenience a lot of people and car manufacturers are counting on that to keep pushing that shit

[–] kameecoding@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

A little sensitive aren't you? Taking offense for something clearly not aimed at you, lol.

[–] Croquette@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I am the person that you called brain damaged. Clearly some reading comprehension issues.

You have the social skills of a rock and it shows.

[–] kameecoding@lemmy.world -1 points 1 month ago

Ah you are right, you are indeed the brain damaged one, sorry about the mixup .

[–] dan@upvote.au 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Why should that use the internet though? There's low-power wireless communication technologies like Wifi HaLow that have a range of around 1km (0.6 miles), which would be totally fine for this use case. No internet needed.

[–] kameecoding@lemmy.world -1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Is that ubiquitous and does it go through walls? And what's the cost of that compared to existing solutions?

[–] dan@upvote.au 3 points 1 month ago

HaLow is sub-1Ghz so it goes through walls pretty well. Not sure about cost or how widespread it is yet.

[–] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee -1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Do you usually start the car from your bedroom?

[–] kameecoding@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

In the winter I would, yes, if my car had it, sitting into a cold car in the morning fucking sucks, starting it 10 minutes before take off and have it defrost, and turn on seat/steering wheel heating would be the fucking tits, and I don't live in a house so might not even have a line of sight on my car so keyfob wouldn't be enough