Toyota Is Forcing Some Owners To Pay $8 a Month for a Basic Feature
Andrew Koole
· 4 min read
Thanks to the success of Netflix and Spotify, subscriptions have become a major source of revenue for all types of web-based businesses, from newspapers to software companies.
Now, automakers are trying to get in on the game,
Toyota
included. Starting in 2018, the industry leader offered “Remote Connect,” their subscription-based app allowing drivers to remotely lock their doors or adjust the temperature of the car’s interior using their phones.A three-year subscription was offered as a complimentary service for many car buyers, but as those three years come to an end, people are losing features they didn’t realize were part of the package, most noticeably the car’s remote-start option from the key fob.
Why is Toyota’s app subscription connected to key fobs?
Key fobs are not a new thing.
Arstechnica
says automakers adopted the technology already in the ‘80s and started using it to offer remote-start features in the mid-2000s. So Toyota owners are rightfully peeved that the capability is suddenly behind a paywall.The company added the feature to their Audio Plus and Premium Audio packages starting in 2018, both of which were offered with three-year or ten-year free trials, respectively.
The problem is that for one, the company buried the inclusion of remote-start in the fine print of the subscription, and secondly, that the key fob doesn’t have anything to do with the Remote Connect app.
MORE: Did You Know Toyota Builds Houses?
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Why does the loss of remote-start only affect newer Toyotas?
Thankfully, if you own a Toyota from the 2018 model year or earlier, this arbitrary connection between key fobs and phone apps doesn’t apply to you. The reason? The older Toyotas run on 3G.
As the older network becomes obsolete, owners of these older Toyotas won’t be able to subscribe to connect their car to the Remote Connect app. To solve the problem, Toyota gave the feature to these drivers for free.
That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t exactly explain why the fob button is lumped in with the app’s other features for owners of Toyota’s newer vehicles, many of whom have decried on online platforms like
Reddit
that forcing them to pay $80 a year for the feature is unethical.What can owners of newer Toyotas do about the remote-start paywall?
MORE: How to Buy and Install a Remote Keyless Entry System in Your Car
Whether Toyota will respond to the flack they got for this decision remains to be seen, but in the meantime, Toyota owners looking to avoid the annual $80 subscription fee for remote-start have a lot of options to choose from.
Aftermarket remote-start systems are widely available and can cost less than one year of “Remote Connect.” Some of them are also connected to apps, but the technology doesn’t require it and you can find plenty of options that run without one.
That said, these aftermarket components might not be as reliable as Toyota’s components. Make sure to do your research before choosing a product and have a professional install it for you.
Other ways to save on car expenses
MORE: What is Toyota's Certified Pre-Owned Program?
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