Technology

I hate these proprietary systems because companies have very bad track records in terms of maintenance, since they'd rather you buy a newer product.

In 2022, the automaker told drivers of the affected cars, some only three years old, that a technical solution was delayed by the pandemic. Now, more than two years later, those drivers still don’t have access to telematics services. [...] Vehicles from Hyundai and Nissan, some as late as model year 2019, also lost some features after 2022’s 3G sunset.

In a country with good consumer rights, this would be a valid reason to return it and get a replacement or refund: It's no longer offering functionality that was advertised and that you paid for as part of the purchase price.

Without right to repair, there will be planned obsolescence.

My Citroen EV developed an on board charger fault. It wouldn't charge. The part was a "coded part" which meant it had to specifically programmed with my EV's ID by Citroen at manufacture. It took months to finally be fitted and ready. So basically, not only does the coded parts system make service shit, but also means when the manufacturer is done making the part, the car is dead. You can't swap parts between cars and there is no third party parts. It's meant to be about car theft, but it's very convenient it blocks competition and long product life....

Cars should just come with a big open socket up front, where I can buy (or build) my own infotainment system to install there. That way I can replace it over the course of the car's lifetime. Or, give me the option to just plug it up or install a traditional car radio or something. I should be able to cram an 8-track player in if I want.

Keep all automobile controls as physical buttons, knobs, and levers.

I haven't owned a car in over 10 years, but whenever I look at what's available, I can't get past how much planned obsolescence is baked into newer cars. I would never buy one...

If automakers focused on cars, and let tech companies and focus on building the infotainment systems, we'd have better choices and less vendor lock-in.

I think people are missing the fact that the features of this VW are going away because they run on 3G. What can a car manufacturer do? Correct me if I'm wrong, you can't just drop a new antenna to fix the problem.

Cars routinely last 15 years and that's geologic time compared to tech. This isn't just a problem of greed or lack of foresight.