[GT_Plus]

Ditto to what others have said. So, you are pissed at FCA/Stellantis. Go dump your Durango and get a Toyota. Did you read how they are thinking about not just a subscription fee like the others, but they had talked about going back retroactively on say a 2018 or 2019 buyer, and charging them if they wanted to retain their remote start feature? Others have contemplated going back retroactively on things like "Oh, you want your heated & ventilated seats, heated steering wheel to keep working?", and if so, pay up monthly. I fully understand if you know this going in up front, as with a Sirius/UConnect "trial" subscription that must be renewed, but when you have bought and paid for a vehicle upfront, knowing it has certain features, then for a company to go back years later and hold those features "hostage" with a "pay up or lose them" approach seems illegal to me. I negotiated a price and bought a product with the understanding that the features of that product would work for the life of the product - not allowing a company to go back after time and ask for more $$$.

 

[GT_Plus]

This. My wife's Lexus - have to pay to remote start it period. No remote option. I never understood either really. I would start it as I'm walking to it - 30 seconds to get oil pressure up - but starting it from your phone seems like a waste on many fronts.

Normally I'd agree. About 90 - 95% of days I never use RS, on either the Durango or our Jeep. But..., for those 5-10% of mornings or evenings leaving work where there is a layer of snow/ice on the windows and/or it's below zero... sure helps save time scraping windows by at least softening up the crud and in the case of the Durango, warming the buns and hands by letting it warm for a few minutes before getting in.

The one engineer kid at work bought a used 2017 Audi A6, and as EXPENSIVE as that POS is, and all of the technology and gadgetry, he says his doesn't have or offer RS as a feature. When he inquired at the dealer he bought it from whether he can pay them to add it, he was told no!

 

[GT_Plus]

Applies to use of RS on the app only. Key fob should work just fine, unless you have a Toyota... They are talking about retroactively going back a few years and extorting $ to keep even the key fob feature working! Think because of the uproar they kind of backed off on that from what I read.

 

[GT_Plus]

Of course, it's only a convenience if your seat and steering wheel heat actually turns on when you start it (remotely or otherwise). Despite that I have the feature turned on, they only start automatically for me, maybe 40% of the time.

Remember that the settings you've chosen in UConnect screen for heated seat/steering wheel will only activate when the outdoor temps drop below 40ish... If yours only works 40% of the time when it is always below 40, time for a stealership visit

 

[GT_Plus]

As a retired software developer, I fought this mindset for 30 years. It takes hours and hours to write, test and distribute quality software. Why should it be free?

I also worked for many years in IT. It's ok to want to charge a customer for "extras" like security tracking, car system health reports, etc., but, when a car mfg. sells a car with SPECIFC features listed as part of that sale, it is absolutely wrong for them to try to go back to the customer and EXTORT payment to continue to keep certain features like remote start, heated seats, etc., working. That was the thought process Toyota and others were contemplating. To try to go back to owners of vehicles as old as 2018s and now say "Pay up, or the feature is gone!". I heard most have thankfully abandoned that idea - for now...

When I negotiate a price, and buy a vehicle based on features listed on the Monroney sticker, I expect them to work and be available for the life of the vehicle. Exceptions are things CLEARLY listed, such as a 6 month "trial" subscription for Sirius or other. As long as I have the "option" to decline not ordering a subscription on a phone app to unlock or remote start my car, or track my car, I'm ok.

 

[GT_Plus]

So for a small evap leak you cant start your car remotely?

Say you have 50 miles of gas in the tank (this is where the light comes on) now you cant remotely start + keep the car running?

Seems ridiculous to me I own the car it should do what I tell it to do.

I think the thought process here is that if you only have 50 miles worth of gas left, that's probably around 3 gallons or LESS. You are already dangerously low, and risk overheating an exposed fuel pump in the tank, which will be made even worse if the vehicle is left idling for 5 - 10 minutes, then trying to drive even a short distance to a gas station. Or worse, running out before you hit the station, which almost certainly guarantees a burned out fuel pump in many cases.
In my opinion, only a fool would allow a modern vehicle to get below between 1/8 to 1/4 of a tank on a regular basis, given the high cost to replace an overheated pump.

As for not starting when trouble codes are detected, let's say the code is a P0303. Letting a vehicle with a misfire idle for a long period of time can cause permanent damage to a convertor by overheating it. Not to mention the additional pollution. There could be many other scenarios of having a code set where prolonged idling unattended could cause engine/component damage. Because of an extremely long list of things that could or might not cause an issue, it is probably programmed to check to see if ANY codes are present, and if so, it's a no-go on the remote start, as opposed to checking for hundreds of codes and parsing for which are ok to start, and not ok to start.