Heated seats are a subscription service now, $18 per month.

[Mike Mercury]

BMW switches Heated Seats, Other Options to a Monthly Fee.

For $18, or $180 a year, automaker will turn the heat on through software

https://www.newser.com/story/322942/...ss_world_login

In some countries where BMW sells cars, buying a model with, say, heated seats has become more complicated—if not more expensive. Heated front seats are a subscription service now, for which the consumer pays a Netflix-like $18 per month, the Verge reports. Other options are offered the same way, including automated traffic camera alerts and map updates, in a system that keeps the vehicle generating revenue for the automaker long after it's driven off the lot. Subscriptions launched in South Korea and are offered in the UK, Germany, New Zealand, and South Africa, but not the US yet.

Automakers have always charged more for optional features, but this—a system of microtransactions—is different. The abundance of software in cars now makes it all possible. All the vehicles already have the hardware to heat the front seats, but BMW has the system blocked by software. When consumers pay up, BMW unblocks the software governing front-seat heating. The fact that they've already paid for a vehicle with all the equipment has increased buyers' irritation, per the Verge, though the company tells buyers the installation was at "no extra cost." BMW does offer deals on the options: The heated seats can also be turned on for $180 a year, $300 for three years, or $415 for perpetuity. If payments are missed, CNN points out, BMW will turn the heat off.

[DAB]

and yet, my OnStar doesn't set the time automatically

[GTOguy]

Yet another reason to avoid German cars.

[Anjdog2003]

I have heated seats and steering wheel on my BMW. The ultimate driving machine.

[LATB]

Heated steering wheel and heated-cooled-massaging seats in my F250. I’m old and I love it.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by Anjdog2003

I have heated seats and steering wheel on my BMW. The ultimate driving machine.

My Cruze has heated seats. I don't have to pay extra for them. Oh, and my Cruze also came standard with turn signals, something apparently not even offered on BMW's.

[Anjdog2003]

Originally Posted by bill_daniels

My Cruze has heated seats. I don't have to pay extra for them. Oh, and my Cruze also came standard with turn signals, something apparently not even offered on BMW's.

Does your Cruze have a no cost maintenance free warranty for 3yr/36,000 miles Including free oil changes?

[IrishSpuds]

I have two of them in my garage and the day they pull that shit here in the states is the day I move to another brand.

[Anjdog2003]

God Bless The Irish

[dvarapala]

Even Wifie's Bolt has subscription-free heated seats and steering wheel. They use less power than the regular heater.

[Anjdog2003]

Originally Posted by bill_daniels

My Cruze has heated seats. I don't have to pay extra for them. Oh, and my Cruze also came standard with turn signals, something apparently not even offered on BMW's.

They discontinued the Cruze

[Anjdog2003]

Originally Posted by dvarapala

Even Wifie's Bolt has subscription-free heated seats and steering wheel. They use less power than the regular heater.

Having a dinner date with Nancy Pelosi > Sitting through a speech by Joe Biden > Being seen in a Chevy Bolt > Carpooling with Porter

[markids77]

Originally Posted by LATB

Heated steering wheel and heated-cooled-massaging seats in my F250. I’m old and I love it.

And in the summer here in the Souf the cooled seat option is like having angels blow smoke up your ass!

[Anjdog2003]

Wow $18 a month. Go too McDonalds one less time each month.

[m and t's77]

Originally Posted by GTOguy

Yet another reason to avoid German cars.

Germans set the bar,Japs make it perfect and Detroit makes it cheap and mostly unreliable.

[Anjdog2003]

Originally Posted by m and t's77

Germans set the bar,Japs make it perfect and Detroit makes it cheap and mostly unreliable.

BINGO

[Yadkin]

Originally Posted by GTOguy

Yet another reason to avoid German cars.

You mean Beemers. I just sold my first and only Beemer. Nice car, I-6 smooth as silk, but a PITA to work on. Plenum covers the back part of the engine. Front edge of plenum carries a 4ga cable from the starter (like old school GM), across the top of the engine, to the main power panel. Intake manifold serves to carry wire harness to various sensors in the front of the engine. Valve cover has sensors built into it, and under it. PCV system buried under the intake. All this shit is brittle plastic. Crank sensor required removal of all that shit. Diagnostic software is all written in German.

My Porsche, in contrast, is a breeze to work on. Locate the part, then remove it. Diagnostic tool was less than $200, and talks to all the modules in the car. Even the shop manual was free.

[Yadkin]

Originally Posted by LATB

Heated steering wheel and heated-cooled-massaging seats in my F250. I’m old and I love it.

And compensating.

[LATB]

Originally Posted by Yadkin

And compensating.

What the **** is your problem?

[Yadkin]

Originally Posted by LATB

What the **** is your problem?

I expose The Truth.