BMW to Rent You Your Heated Seats and Steering Wheel. What Next

Could Subscription Heated Seats Become a thing for Your Car?

Kia recently announced the arrival of its telematics system, and like other bands, it allows additional features such as emergency calls.

Tesla takes that further by allowing over-the-air updates. In fact, this feature is now common-place and is transmitted via an inbuilt SIM card. But, did you know other features are now being added to the premium subscription list?

Once upon a time, you purchased a car and ticked the options boxes for little luxuries like a heated steering wheel, heated seats, and more. Now, car makers, particularly luxury brands, are making these options part of a subscription pack, just as you do for video streaming at home.

BMW Wireless Apple CarPlay was originally slated to be via subscription, but the plan was dropped, until now. It is back, and it has brought along some friends.

BMW Connected Drive lists the following:

Wireless Apple CarPlay $450 unlimited
Map updates $89 1 yr
Traffic Jam information $115 1 yr
ADAPTIVE M SUSPENSION $650.00 unlimited
HIGH BEAM ASSISTANT $259.00
ICONICSOUNDS SPORT $220.00
REMOTE ENGINE START $29.00

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ABOVE: Some of the brands using Telematics. Could Subscription Seat Heating be coming your way?

While some costs were monthly, there were options for yearly and lifetime subscriptions. Most brands list these features as non-transferrable so when the vehicle is sold, the carmaker asks the buyer to pay for features even if some were already purchased for lifetime.

Tesla lists connectivity for $9.99 a month in Australia, and in some markets, enhanced auto pilot for $299. Mercedes is also rolling out subscription features, but it is two BMW features to catch our eye, heated steering wheel at $19 per month, and heated seats at $29 per month.

The idea is that owners can select or deselect features at their whim. It allows them to customise their vehicles depending on need. For example, if you were heading into the snow, you might want extra heating, then get rid of it when you’re done.

It requires the fitment of the features during manufacture, but unlike the car itself, you never really own them, you rent them as if you’d wandered into the 80’s and found yourself in a Blockbuster.

Let’s put this into some perspective, entry level cars have these features included as standard. A Ford Puma, Kia Cerato, or Hyundai i30 variously have heated seats and wireless Apple CarPlay built into the price. No further payment needed.

The posh brands appear to be trying to fleece customers by conning them into ongoing costs for something already installed, as if the vehicle hadn’t already cost you dearly.

GayCarBoys spoke to several “mass market” brands who are also introducing telematics to add features, but none had plans to rent features as heating for seats.

In closing, think about this for a moment: all vehicles how have computers of one kind or another. They run everything from the engine to the infotainment unit and locking systems. It starts here, but where will it end? Will you pay a fee for FM and DAB radio? Will your safety features be a rent-only item?

This hideous slippery slope opens the doors for any computer controlled attribute to be held to ransom. Perhaps the movies where a hacker takes over the steering isn’t as far off as you think? In any case, BMW thinks a toasty bum is only a credit card monthly payment away.

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