Like it or not, subscriptions are the new norm for everything we like. Anything and everything you can think of can be made better with a subscription.
Want food delivered without delivery fees? Uber One and DoorDash's DashPass are there for you.
Perhaps you like to prepare your own food or cut down on calories; Factor, Marley, Blue Apron, and Hello Fresh are there to skip the grocery store.
Want something to watch on TV? Hulu, Disney+, Netflix, Max, and a plethora of other specialized services can replace your cable service.
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Do you prefer watching movies at the movie theater? AMC's A-List allows you to watch three movies per week.
All of this is before we get into the wide world of subscription boxes, where boxes filled with clothes, shaving equipment, Japanese snacks, and candies are just some of the things that can come to your house every month.
However, not everything needs to be a subscription, especially things related to the cars people drive to work and school every day.
Mazda
Mazda's subscription dilemma
In 2021, Japanese automaker Mazda (MZDAF) made a sneaky move and removed remote start functionality from its key fobs.
Instead of packaging them physically with the car, Mazda introduced its Mazda Connected Services smartphone app, through which owners can control their Mazda's climate control, start their vehicles remotely, and check up on their vehicles' status.
These functions are available to owners through a $10 per-month subscription. However, Mazda gave owners a three-year free trial to try out these functions before they committed to the subscription, which may have been a bad call from the start.
On the r/Mazda community on Reddit, Mazda CX-90 and Mazda 3 owners have aired out their grievances over the fact that their three-year free trials are now over, noting that a feature that once came free with its cars is now paywalled.
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In the comments of a post about the free trial ending, Reddit user and Mazda owner u/Codeman8118 said, "You pay 30-60K for a car. Remote start should least be on the key fob and the app where the app has further range and capability, but you still have the option to start your car when it's snowing outside."
Another owner, u/Own-Opposite1611 complained that the app isn't worth the $10 per month, noting that it "doesn’t even work for me half the time."
Other owners shared links to do-it-yourself kits that enabled remote start from the key fobs; however, another owner, u/ClassicWags complained that Mazda "gave a cease and desist" to a free app-based solution that used Mazda's API (Application Programming Interface), concluding that the automaker "can f--k right off with their $10 fee."
Mazda's rebuttal to customer backlash
In a statement to The Drive, a Mazda spokesperson said that they "advertised to customers" that a complimentary three-year subscription comes with purchasing their new Mazdas, adding that "a payment would be required to continue use of the Connected Services" after the complimentary period.
"For customers who have exceeded this three-year trial period, we have continued to extend the complimentary trial period with the notification that the free trial would transition to a paid subscription service at a future date," a Mazda spokesperson said.
According to the spokesperson, Mazda will still offer new 2025 CX-70 owners a three-year trial of Mazda Connected Services, while buyers of other 2025 Mazdas will get a one-year complimentary trial.
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The BMW connection
Mazda customers are aware of the extension of the complimentary subscription trial period, but Mazda is far from the only automaker criticized for offering key features behind a paywall.
In the summer of 2022, BMW made headlines after it started selling a monthly subscription for certain features, including heated seats, automatic high beams, and adaptive cruise control in select markets, including the UK, Germany, and South Korea, through its 'ConnectedDrive' program.
The hardware needed for these features was already installed in its cars at the factory, but a software paywall blocked its operation by those who were not subscribed.
Due to massive backlash and low subscription numbers, it dropped the subscription in September 2023.
In February 2024, Mercedes-Benz Chief Software Officer Magnus Östberg criticized BMW's approach to in-car subscriptions, noting that its rival did it incorrectly.
“Our philosophy at Mercedes is that [subscriptions] are going to be a luxury experience. That means we're not ‘nickeling and diming’ our customers. It's more of a holistic experience," Ostberg told Top Gear.
“But yes, our customers, of course, will have to subscribe to a package and so forth, but we believe that our customers don't want to be ‘nickel and dimed’ in their face. That's not what our customers are looking for.”
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