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Apparently, the issue of delinquent vehicle payments is driving tech in an interesting direction.

  Ford Motor Company files patent on repo tech

  This week in Fortune online, it was announced that Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for what's referred to as repossession-linked technology.  It would, according to sources, potentially allow the vehicle to have its air conditioning stop working, radio not function, or a myriad of other 'issues' if you skip too many payments.

According to Fortune:

"According to the Ford patent application for repossession-linked technology, cruise control and automated windows could be disabled if a consumer doesn’t acknowledge a notice of an overdue car payment. Ford could also shut down key fobs, door locks — even the accelerator or the engine itself."

Fortune says car payment delinquencies are creeping back upward from pandemic-era lows, and continue to grow into a troublesome issue.  Fortune reports Ford does not have active plans to utilize or rush this tech into production, but privacy experts say it could be a can of worms.

John Van Alst is a senior attorney at the National Law Center, and he said this to Forbes about the idea:

“It really seems like you’re opening up a can of worms that, as a manufacturer, you don’t really need to be doing,”

Some of the tech could include autonomous driving programs that would start your vehicle have it would drive away from your home. Perhaps the vehicle would drive to a more advantageous location where a tow truck could come get it.

Will it happen? According to a Ford Motor spokesman in the Forbes article, they have no plans to utilize this tech.

 

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