You sit down in your car on a cold morning, press the heated seat button — and nothing happens. The hardware is physically installed. The wiring is there. But the feature is locked behind a monthly payment.

This isn’t hypothetical. In 2022, BMW’s heated seat subscription in selected markets made headlines around the world. The hardware was already inside the car, but access could be sold separately. The backlash raised a question the automotive industry is still trying to answer: when you buy a car, do you actually own everything inside it?

In this documentary, we trace how the automobile evolved from a one-time purchase into a software-defined product. We examine BMW’s heated seat subscription and why the company eventually stepped back. We look at Mercedes charging drivers in Germany to unlock the full rear-wheel steering angle already built into the EQS. We also examine its US acceleration upgrade, which started at sixty dollars per month based on pricing announced in 2023.

Then there’s Volkswagen. In 2025, the company began offering UK buyers a paid power upgrade for selected ID.3 models, increasing output from 150 to 170 kilowatts through software.

What could these subscriptions mean for used car buyers? What happens when a connected feature depends on remote servers? And what rights do consumers have over the hardware and software inside the vehicles they purchase?

The system hasn’t disappeared. Automakers are learning which subscription features consumers will accept — and where they draw the line.

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