Ford Submits A Patent That Would Allow Cars To Repossess Themselves

The automotive industry is entering into its own subprime crisis. Even before the COVID pandemic led to supply chain issues that vastly inflated car prices, lenders were starting to extend loan periods to make things easier for underfunded purchasers, moving on from the industry standard 3-5 year loans to 84-month baselines that ensure people could purchase cars... but for a price they'd be paying for a long, long time.

The underlying mechanics that led to the 2008 financial crisis are now at play at automotive dealers. But dealers still have the upper hand, for the most part. You can't disable a house, but inexpensive tech allows dealers to disable cars when payments are overdue.

Starter interrupt devices are only the beginning. As loan periods extend to create affordable" payments (ones that will not touch the principal for more than three years) and payments continue to be missed, despite this predatory lending tactic, automotive manufacturers are moving forward to protect their bottom lines.

Here's the latest in dealer-on-driver financial violence, sent to us by Techdirt reader BentFranklin via our Insider Chat. Taking advantage of built-in smart systems, including autonomous driving features, Ford will seek to reclaim its property by any (electronic) means necessary.

The patent document was submitted to the United States Patent Office in August 2021 but it was formally published Feb. 23. It's titled Systems and Methods to Repossess a Vehicle." It describes several ways to make the life of somebody who has missed several car payments harder.

It explicitly says the system, which could be installed on any future vehicle in the automaker's lineup with a data connection would be capable of [disabling] a functionality of one or more components of the vehicle." Everything from the engine to the air conditioning. For vehicles with autonomous or semi-autonomous driving capability, the system could move the vehicle from a first spot to a second spot that is more convenient for a tow truck to tow the vehicle... move the vehicle from the premises of the owner to a location such as, for example, the premises of the repossession agency," or, if the lending institution considers the financial viability of executing a repossession procedure" to be unjustifiable, the vehicle could drive itself to the junkyard.

Kudos to The Drive, which not only reported this news, but provided a link to the patent application [PDF], which includes helpful illustrations like this one:

Yikes. Police authority." That doesn't bode well for purchasers who've fallen behind on their payments. They're not actually thieves, not when the company has the option to repo the vehicle. But some irresponsible (or delayed) data reporting could lead to traffic stops predicated on the (incorrect) supposition the car is stolen, when it's actually nothing more than delinquent.

The Drive notes no other car manufacturer has attempted to patent tech like this, putting Ford on the questionable leading edge of repo tech for the time being. Fortunately, prospective Ford purchasers won't just find their vehicles autonomously commandeered should they fall behind on their payments. Advance notice will be given before vehicles wander off to return themselves to their maker.

There would be several warnings from the vehicle before the system initiated a formal repossession. If these warnings were ignored, the car could begin to lose functionality ahead of a repo. The first lost functions would be minor inconveniences like cruise control, automated window controls, automated seat controls, and some components of the infotainment system (radio, global positioning system (GPS), MP3 player, etc.)" The next level is more serious, and includes the loss of things like the air conditioning system, a remote key fob, and an automated door lock/unlock system." Likewise, an incessant and unpleasant sound" may be turned on every time the owner is present in the vehicle."

Should all of these inconveniences be ignored, the system would escalate to lock people out of their vehicles. It should be noted the patent exempts weekends from these escalating lockout tactics, perhaps recognizing it's difficult to catch up on payments when you can't contact the lien holder.

The semi-autonomous functions would be activated if none of the exceptions are met. At best, it would move the car out of someone's driveway to a public street where it can be more easily towed. At worst, it would instruct the car to drive itself to the nearest authorized repo lot if possible.

But if the situation seems more dire than that, the onboard computer will opt for Mutually Assured Destruction. In certain cases, The Drive reports, the system will emulate The Bard, instructing the vehicle to Get thee to a nunnery scrapyard."

If it will cost the bank more to repo the vehicle as compared to what it could sell it for, then the repossession system computer may cooperate with the vehicle computer to autonomously move the vehicle from the premises of the owner to a junkyard."

That's the future. Your car will run from you, if your dealer or manufacturer decides that's the way things need to go. Never mind the fact that being without a car makes it that much more difficult to earn the wages needed to pay it off. Ford wants to do your driving for you if it feels you can no longer trust you. If that means you're out of a car and still on the hook for thousands, so be it.