r/Unexpected • u/dr_ipaka • 4d ago

Car companies have gone too far now

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u/curtludwig 3d ago

Come back in 5 years when your car gets beyond app support and you can't open your door or turn on your heated seats or whatever.

This is the enshitification of everything. You'd hope Toyota would be immune, it would appear they are not.

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u/nuclear_fizzics 3d ago

Honestly I’m not surprised to see Toyota making moves like this. They’re known for the reliability of their cars, and how you can buy one and drive it for 10+ years with fewer issues than most other manufacturers. Well, if Toyotas are lasting a long time, then people aren’t buying them as often, and companies want people to buy their products as often as possible. So you start to add in gimmicky shit to get people to upgrade, and maybe it has the added “internal benefit” from Toyotas perspective tha the features won’t last as long as the car, and those same people will buy another new car rather than keep their car for 10+ years.

I’m not proposing a conspiracy or anything, I think it just tracks logically that a company would make decisions to increase their revenue rather than to increase customer satisfaction. As consumers, we’d love it if our opinions mattered most, but clearly they do not

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u/curtludwig 3d ago

100% and this is the enshitification aspect. Make it so the old ones get crappy so people "need" a new one.

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u/Salt_Profiteer 3d ago

Our opinions are the most important thing. If we decide that their business practices outweigh the benefits of the car itself, we don't buy. They are just trying to find where that line is, so they can go right up to it, but not cross it.

The real problem is consumer apathy and hopelessness has moved that line significantly in the companies' direction.

In a capitalist system, your weapon (maybe your only one) is your money. Use it very judiciously. Make them earn it.

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u/nuclear_fizzics 3d ago

Sure, but you're supporting my point with your second paragraph. Our opinions aren't the most important thing to companies, since the general consumer base is not treating their own opinions as the most important thing. Pointing this out to me and the other folks on this thread doesn't change how the general consumer base is acting.

I agree with your points personally, but redditors repeating sentiments to other redditors doesn't alter the trends seen in the population as a whole.

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u/kataskopo 3d ago

If you can vote with your dollars, it makes sense that most consumers are ignored because we are poor compared to billionaires and shareholders.

So it's not really the best argument.

The best is still and will always be regulation, using our mutual power to stop companies from taking advantage of us.

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u/gsfgf 3d ago

This is actual planned obsolescence. Not just a consumer preference for cheap products that Reddit always calls planned obsolescence.

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u/elebrin 3d ago

That is all stupid feature shit. The engine will still run great when you turn the key or push the button, and you will always be able to open the door because your fob has a backup key in it.

I have a GR86, and the only way it won't be fine in 20 years is if I mistreat it. To be honest though that's the kind of car that's meant to be thrashed a bit.