Software-Locked Features and Subscriptions: What You Own and What You Rent

Start with the fact that reframes this entire subject.

Mercedes-Benz sells an over-the-air upgrade called Acceleration Increase for its electric EQE and EQS models. It raises output by up to 80 horsepower and takes up to a second off 0–60, and Mercedes has said it does not affect driving range. You can buy it monthly, annually, or as a "lifetime" upgrade — reported at $1,950 for the EQE and $2,950 for the EQS.

Now the part that matters. Reporting on the terms indicates that "lifetime" means for as long as the current owner has the car — not the life of the vehicle. The feature is linked to the owner's Mercedes me account rather than to the car. Sell it or trade it, and the upgrade goes with you in the sense that it simply ceases to exist: the next owner has to register their own account and pay for it again.

A nearly three-thousand-dollar "lifetime" purchase, on hardware that is physically in the car, that does not survive the sale of the car.

Which tells you that the question everyone asks about this topic — is it a subscription or a purchase? — is the wrong question.

The right question is: what is the feature tied to?

What actually changed

Cars are now built as what the industry calls software-defined vehicles. The capability is installed at the factory and enabled afterwards, which means a single production line can build one car and sell it at several specification levels.

That is not automatically sinister. It is how phones and laptops have worked for years, it genuinely simplifies manufacturing, and it lets you add a feature two years after buying rather than guessing at the dealership.

But it does create a situation with no real precedent in car ownership: you can own the hardware and rent the function. The motors in that EQS already make the power. The seats already have the heating elements. What you are buying is permission.

The BMW episode, and the useful lesson in it

BMW offered heated seats as a monthly subscription — reportedly around $18 a month — and withdrew it, as reported in September 2023, after sustained customer backlash.

The explanation from BMW's board member for sales and marketing, Pieter Nota, is worth quoting because it is unusually candid. Customers, he said, "feel that they paid double" for the feature. He then noted that this is not technically true — and added, "perception is reality."

BMW did not abandon the model. It redirected it. Nota described the focus shifting to software and service-related functions on demand — driving assistance and parking assistance that can be added after purchase, and functions that depend on ongoing data transmission. He compared those to downloading a film or an extra feature in an app.

And that is the genuinely useful lesson, because the line landed roughly where it should have:

Charging to unlock physical hardware the customer already bought reads as being charged twice. Charging for an ongoing service does not.

Heated seats are a thing. Live traffic data is a service. Most people's instincts on this turn out to be sound, and in BMW's case the market enforced the distinction within about a year.

Worth knowing alongside that: BMW has stated that for North American buyers, features installed on the car at the time of purchase remain active for the life of the car. The subscription question applies to things added later, not to the specification you bought.

The four things a feature can be tied to

Here is the section to keep, because there is no industry standard — and the word used in the marketing tells you nothing about which of these applies.

Four manufacturers, four different answers. Same general technology, same general marketing language, completely different consequences when the car changes hands.

So "is it a subscription?" is not a useful question. "Is it tied to the car, the VIN, the original sale date, or an account?" is the question that actually determines what you are buying.

Two honest caveats. These are reported terms rather than ones we have verified against each manufacturer's current contract, and they change. And in one documented case a customer who had bought the lifetime Mercedes upgrade asked a dealership whether it would carry over on sale — and nobody there had a definitive answer. Which is the strongest possible argument for the advice further down: get it in writing.

The obsolescence nobody chose

There is a second way a feature you paid for can stop working, and it has nothing to do with a billing decision.

Connected features depend on a cellular network, and cellular network generations get retired. When carriers shut down 2G and 3G service, features that had worked perfectly in older vehicles simply stopped — remote access, emergency calling, live traffic, app functions. Some cars could accept an upgraded telematics module. Some could not, and the feature was gone for good.

No one made a decision to take it away. The infrastructure it relied on reached the end of its life, and the car outlived it.

That matters for anything you buy today, because the same thing will eventually happen to the current network generation. Which makes this a fair question at purchase: what happens to this car's connected features when the network it uses is retired, and can the hardware be upgraded?

It is also a reason to value the features that work without a connection. Heated seats, once enabled, keep working whatever happens to a cell tower.

What this does to resale — in both directions

If you are selling: a feature tied to your account is not an asset you can transfer, and it is not something you can honestly advertise. If you paid $2,950 for a lifetime upgrade that ends when you sell, you bought the use of it, not a thing that adds value to the car. Price accordingly — and do not list the car as having a feature the buyer cannot keep.

If you are buying: do not pay a premium for a feature that may not come with the car. Verify first. The polite version of the question is simply "is that included, or is that on your account?"

And the structural point: a car whose desirable features do not transfer is genuinely worth less than an identical car whose features do. That is a legitimate negotiating position, not a quibble. As more capability moves behind software, it becomes a real component of used-car value — and right now most buyers are not asking, which means most sellers are not discounting.

The questions to ask, new or used

Six of them, and the answers should be in writing rather than remembered.

1. Which features are included outright, and which require a subscription? Get the list, not a reassurance.
2. For each paid feature: is it tied to the vehicle, the VIN, the original sale date, or an account? This is the question almost nobody asks and the one that decides everything.
3. What remains of any factory trial, and when did it start? If it runs from the original sale date, the answer depends on a date that has nothing to do with you.
4. If it is account-linked, what does the previous owner have to do, and what do I have to do? Unlinking, factory resets and new account registration all have to actually happen.
5. What happens when the current cellular network generation is retired? And can the telematics hardware be upgraded if it is?
6. Can I have that in writing? Given that dealership staff have been unable to answer this definitively even about their own products, this is not pedantry.

What we can and cannot do about it

Three things, including one we will not do.

We can tell you what is physically in the car. Reading the vehicle's coding and factory option list shows which hardware is actually fitted — which distinguishes "your car was not built with that" from "your car has it and it is switched off." Those are very different situations and owners frequently cannot tell which one they are in. On a used purchase it is genuinely useful information.

We can check the connected-services state — whether an account from a previous owner is still linked to the car, and what the vehicle currently thinks it is entitled to. This sits alongside two other used-car checks we would always recommend: clearing the previous owner's data, and auditing how many keys the car still recognises.

We will not unlock manufacturer features you have not paid for. There is a grey market in exactly this, and we understand the appeal. We do not do it, for reasons that are practical as much as ethical: it means writing unofficial configuration into a car that will receive official software updates for years afterwards, which is a reliable way to create faults that are difficult and expensive to unpick — and it puts warranty and goodwill claims at risk. If a shop offers to do it cheaply, that is a shop telling you something about how it treats your car's software generally.

Frequently asked questions

Does a "lifetime" feature purchase last the life of the car?

Not necessarily, and the Mercedes case is the clearest example. Its Acceleration Increase upgrade for the EQE and EQS is sold with a lifetime option at a reported $1,950 and $2,950 respectively, but reporting on the terms indicates "lifetime" means for as long as the current owner keeps the car, because the feature is linked to the owner's Mercedes me account rather than to the vehicle. Sell the car and the next owner must register their own account and pay again.

Did BMW stop charging for heated seats?

Yes. BMW offered heated seats on a monthly subscription, reportedly around $18 a month, and withdrew it as reported in September 2023 after customer backlash. BMW's sales and marketing board member said customers "feel that they paid double" and acknowledged that "perception is reality." BMW continued with software and service-based functions on demand — driving and parking assistance added after purchase, and features depending on ongoing data transmission. The distinction that survived is a sensible one: unlocking hardware you already bought feels like a double charge, while paying for an ongoing service does not.

Do subscriptions transfer when I sell the car?

It depends entirely on what the feature is tied to, and there is no industry standard. Reported examples span four different models: tied to the vehicle and transferable (GM Super Cruise, if unexpired), tied to the VIN but needing the new owner to perform a factory reset and register an account (Ford BlueCruise), tied to the original sale date so the clock ignores ownership changes (Toyota connected services), and tied to the previous owner's account so it does not transfer at all (Mercedes Acceleration Increase). Ask which of the four applies to the specific car.

Can a feature I paid for stop working for reasons other than billing?

Yes. Connected features rely on cellular networks, and network generations get retired. When carriers shut down 2G and 3G, features that had worked in older cars stopped — remote access, emergency calling, live traffic. Some vehicles could take an upgraded telematics module; others could not, and the capability was permanently lost. Nobody decided to remove it; the infrastructure simply reached the end of its life and the car outlived it. Worth asking at purchase whether the telematics hardware can be upgraded.

Should a car with non-transferable features be worth less?

Yes, and it is a fair negotiating point rather than a quibble. A car whose desirable capabilities do not come with it is genuinely worth less than an identical car whose do. At the moment most buyers are not asking the question, which means most sellers are not discounting for it — so the asymmetry currently runs against the buyer. Ask, and price on the answer.

Can you unlock features my car already has?

No, and we would rather explain why than just decline. Writing unofficial configuration into a car that will keep receiving official software updates for years is a reliable way to create faults that are difficult and expensive to resolve later, and it puts warranty and goodwill claims at risk. What we will happily do is read the car's coding and factory option list so you know exactly what hardware is fitted and what is merely switched off — which is useful whether or not you ever enable it.

Buying one? Ask us what is actually in it

Before you commit to a used European car, we can read its coding and option list and tell you what hardware is physically present, what is enabled, and whether a previous owner's account is still attached. That turns a conversation about what the seller believes the car has into a list of what it actually has.

Eastside European Auto Service and Repair has been the Eastside's dealer alternative since 2010, working on Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, Volvo, Porsche, Jaguar, Land Rover, MINI and Smart. ASE-certified technicians, over 75 years of combined experience, factory-level diagnostic equipment, and loaner cars available.

Call 425-823-8200 or book online. 12415 NE 124th St, Kirkland, WA 98034. Serving Kirkland, Bellevue, Bothell, Redmond, Issaquah, Mercer Island and Woodinville.