-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
God no. My service tech did it. Great work and took about an hour. Wouldn’t even consider trying this myself.
I totally agree. But not installing the physical hardware saves them money. I think 300 bucks to enable it would be a far better option. My service tech was phenomenal. Really knowledgeable. I hope your install goes as well as mine.
Because if they disable it with software, they still have to pay the royalties or whatever that they are paying for each system. I agree with you that they shouldnt have taken it out, but they made a determination that they could save some money because some people wouldnt want it, and if tesla installs it in each car, they have to pay the license fee or whatever, whether its "activated" or not.
Personally, I believe it should be a click box you can check on the online order, so it comes factory installed if you want it, and not if you dont, but tesla is trying like mad to not have any real customization to a specific car for a specific person. People think when they order a tesla they are getting a "custom order" car, and they absolutely arent. They are just waiting for one with their spec to be made by the factory during its regular manufacturing.
This is different than, say, ordering a BMW, which you can order pretty much exactly how you want it, with several options etc, and is actually built for "you". I only mention BMW as its the brand I have the most familiarity with, having driven pretty much only BMWs for about 16 years or so before buying this model 3.
It doesn't save them money because they have to send a mobile service tech to me (an hour away) and spend 2+ hours to put this in. This is time that the mobile service could have been sent to another location.
They have been doing this for other parts where they put in the higher end parts (ie bigger batteries, powerful motors) and then software lock them. Then offer an unlock cost.
I can see the licensing excuse but I don't see how expensive that license could be. My Subaru has homelink and I only paid ~$150 for the whole rear view mirror.
It used to be in every early production car and they decided to remove it and go to this current order-after-the-fact system. Quite likely they did a costing analysis and considered the option of leaving the hardware in or having option of factory install before changing it up.
Similar threads
